Rustling around ...

便宜货...

2007-06-04T10:47:00.000+08:00

有時候便宜不見得是不好，端看你怎麼看待它......
真正的價值不在於金錢，而在於自己心中所佔的地位與份量。

祝每個人找到屬於自己的幸福

便宜貨 作者／狼米【作家散步道】

我被女人甩了。

我記得，當初我花了畢生的心血，好不容易才追到這個女人。

我送她大把大把的玫瑰；逛街時買她最喜愛的名牌；

出遊時帶她上著名的景點、住高級的飯店；吃飯時，當然也是名貴餐廳的精緻餐點……

我用我所想得到的奉獻，給予她滿滿的愛情。

她說我是世界上最懂羅曼蒂克的好男人。

然後半年後，她有了別的男人。

之後的日子，我開始忘記怎麼刮鬍子。

偶爾，也會忘記吃飯；或是忘記洗澡。

唯一清楚的是還記得去上班。

突然有一天放假時，我一回神，發現自己頂著一頭亂髮，穿著皺T恤、運動褲與夾腳拖鞋走在鬧區的街上。

我摸摸褲子口袋，皮夾裡只剩幾個銅板、一兩張零鈔，

於是慢慢拖步走向最近的那家銀行，插入提款卡一看，只剩幾千塊餘額。

我打了個哈欠……記得半年多前，我好像還有近百萬的存款，全都花到哪裡去了？想不起來。

但在下個月的薪水入帳前，我好像得先想個辦法解決這半個月民生問題。

我領了兩千塊，進了一家宣稱最便宜的量販店裡（因為我記得家裡冰箱內就只剩半罐乳瑪琳）。

然後我看到這輩子完全沒看過的光景！

天啊！為什麼會有這麼多人？！

還大多是攜家帶眷的出動，而且每個人的手上的手推車都是滿滿的，

好像東西都是免錢的一樣猛搬！

我推著車被迫擠著前進，漫無目的的到處亂看，

然後在熟食區看到一個讓我不禁精神一振的東西，是我最喜歡的──涼拌毛豆莢。

標價：100公克8元。

怎麼可能？！太便宜了！我隨手剝了一個試吃，哦！味道還不錯嘛～很高興的拿了袋子開始裝。

就在我包了一大包準備去稱重時，然後就聽到隔壁有個太太在跟她老公對話，

老公說：「買點毛豆吧。」

「8塊？漲價了，上禮拜我們買的時候才5塊呢！」那太太嘖道。

我一聽簡直就是傻眼！5塊？！再看看我手上那一大包……

算了，還是買吧，因為這樣對我而言已經是很便宜了，

記得有次跟前女友去某家茶餐廳吃下午茶，一小碟毛豆估計只有十幾枚，

只夠塞牙縫，卻要價50呢！

而我這一袋稱稱，剛好一斤，600公克48元。神啊！這夠我剝到手軟了～

後來我更在其它什區發現許許多多便宜的東西，精神一起，不知不覺搬一搬，滿車了…

用手機的計算機算一算，才一千多塊！

而這些東西可夠我吃到下個月啊！我霎時有種很滿足的感覺。

推著車子到收銀區去排隊，一邊等著一邊思考了許多事。

我該重新過活了。

想想分手也好，我不再需要一天到晚24小時待命等她Call；

假日的時間可以自己安排，想做什麼就做什麼；

不用再費心思去想著怎麼討她歡心；約會的開銷也通通都自動歸零…

半年多來，我從百萬富翁變成窮光蛋，也實在是夠不可思議了。

終於，我前面那一位顧客，堆在輸送帶上那座山一樣的東西，已經快結完了，

馬上就要輪到我，我正準備推車卡位時，一轉眼就瞄到身後排了一個女人。

她手裡拿著一個便當，一瓶蕃茄果汁。耐心等候著。

真是稀奇，在這種地方，只買兩樣東西？

我看了她一眼，說：「讓妳先結帳吧。」

她眼睛一亮，非常燦爛的笑著：「真的嗎？謝謝，謝謝，謝謝！」

她一邊結帳一邊跟收銀小姐說：「今天人真是多。」

「因為中元普渡快到了，這是正常現象。」收銀小姐面無表情的刷著條碼說。

「還好有這位好心的阿伯，看我只有兩樣東西，就說要讓我先結帳，真是太感謝了～」

說著就笑著跟我揮手說再見。

〝阿伯？！〞我大驚！

她算起來是跟我平輩吧！叫我阿伯？我看起來有這麼臭老嗎？

不會吧？我一邊結帳一邊越想越不甘心。

我頂多只是不修邊幅，難道這樣就使我成了老態畢現的中年糟老頭了嗎？

自尊心嚴重受損……推著車子走出去時，看到那個女人正坐在餐廳區吃便當。

我忍不住走過去：「小姐，妳幾歲？」

「咦？剛才的阿伯。我嗎？我28。阿伯，你問這個要做什麼？」

「沒，我只是想證明妳不能叫我阿伯，因為我才30歲。」

「啊？」她掩嘴，「對不起，我以為……」

「沒關係，是我自己頹廢。」

看到她的便當，終於讓我記起餓的感覺，於是，「妳可不可以幫我看一下車子？」

我把車子放在她身邊，然後去點了一份59元的排骨麵套餐又回來，開始專心吃午餐。

吃著，我可以感受到她的目光頻頻偷偷打量著我，

我低著頭吃麵，突然冒她一句：「妳一直偷看我，我會以為妳暗戀上了我喔。」

她被我的突然說話嚇了一跳，我心裡感到好笑。

「呃，不是……我仔細再看看你以後，發現你的確不是老，只是邋遢而已，

如果好好整理一下，應該是個年輕的帥哥才對。你不該那麼懶的。」

「我不是懶，只是失戀而已。」

「啊？對不起…」她又掩嘴了。

後來我們變成了朋友。

我們最常一起做的事當然就是去逛量販店，或是任何有跳樓大拍賣的百貨公司。

從那次起，我終於體會到為什麼有些人就是喜歡打折這種名詞。

因為撿便宜會讓人產生一種類似多巴胺的激素，從骨子裡感到舒暢得很；

只不過這種激素有一種缺點──大量分泌時，常會讓人失去理智就是了。

我發現她很容易感到開心。

前女友要送99朵玫瑰才會笑；而她，只是在白河路邊，

隨便買一枝10元的蓮花給她，她就高興到會轉圈圈。

前女友要吃燭光晚餐才會覺得滿意；而她，只是在夜市請她吃鹽酥雞，

就快樂得走路都會用跳的。

前女友就算我每天接送，也不見感動；

而她，只是因為我知道她正在經期間，所以買泡沫紅茶時便吩附店員不要加冰塊而已，

她就窩心到緊緊抱住我。

太便宜了！這麼不費力的女人，不追到手怎麼行？

後來，有一次我跟她在某百貨公司的花籃車拍賣裡，把一整堆像山一樣的衣服，

一直挑挑挑，挑過不要的就放另一邊，像愚公移山似的，一座山被移成另一座山，

店員的表情讓我不禁暗笑到內傷；

後來終於挑到一件中意的裙子，只不過有點髒污，以及脫線。

她回家洗乾淨並縫補好它，下次再穿出來時，看起來竟是高級貨色！

她說，有時候便宜不見得是不好，端看你怎麼看待它。

交往半年後，她懷孕了。

我想，這應該叫做買一送一。

Europe 2007

2007-04-12T00:46:00.000+08:00

Embarked on a 17 day journey (from 23rd Mar to 12th Apr) to a much dreamed place, Europe.
SG - KL - Frankfurt - Krakow - Prague - Budapest - Vienna - Venice - Rome - SG.

This had been the longest trip yetsofar... and its really tiring tokeep travelling. Having to readjust to the new environment each time, the weather, the environment, the train or tram or bus system. Many firsts, many new experience, many new people we met. Each day becomes a new experience. There's so much to talk abt, but sadly.. i was too lazy to blog as we travel. Despite carrying my small computer.

I miss SG food alot. we got really sick of pizzas, geletos, breads every mean... Suffering from jet lag.. 6 hrs behind SG time.. got to catch some sleep..

2007-02-26T12:38:00.000+08:00

Wallets Anyone??

迎新年，贺新年‘07

2007-02-20T09:33:00.000+08:00

推旧迎新，清理旧物，并不是喜新厌旧，不怀旧，或是狠心。而是为了摆脱过去的阴影，大刀阔斧，一刀两断，来个直接了断，劈开新道，瞻望美好的未来。。。

亚洲 - 欧洲之游

2007-01-04T22:00:00.000+08:00

跨越两州，化越时空。
风俗民情，五彩品分。
海天辽阔，金时点滴。
处处欲游，该往何处？

2007!!!

2007-01-04T21:45:00.000+08:00

Tine to let go of the Red Balloon...

Changi Airport

2006-12-22T16:07:00.000+08:00

Home Sweet Home...
Meeting a friend at Pacific Coffee at T1 for coffee. I love this place. Tucked in one corner of the airport where at Counter 1. Coffee, Free Wireless Internet, Greenery at the background, Aircon, a HUGE couch, a leg rest, soothing music. Lovely place. Sacrificing all these once i decide to settle down in SG... or maybe somewhere else...
Changi Airport is still the best airport in the region. It feels like HOME

Palmy - "kwaam jep bpuat" from Beautiful

2006-12-22T03:33:00.000+08:00

ใคร คนที่เคยรู้ใจ รอยยิ้มที่เคยรู้จัก กำลังจะหายลับไปทุกที
krai kon tee koie roo jai roi yim tee koie roo jak gam-lang ja haai lap bpai took tee
Someone who used to understand me so well and the smile that I was familiar are fading slowly away from me.

คำพูดที่ซึ้งใจ ที่เคยว่ารักมากมาย ไม่มีอีกแล้วนับจากนี้
kam poot tee seung jai tee koie waa rak maak maai mai mee eek laew nap jaak nee
Words of gentleness and of much love are no more from now on.

ถ้าคนจะไป ก็ต้องไป
taa kon ja bpai gor dtong bpai
If someone must go, then it must be.

รักเท่าไรแต่ฉันคงทำได้เท่านี้
rak tao-rai dtae chan kong tam daai tao nee
No matter how much love I have but this is all I am able to do.

ได้แต่ยินยอมรับความเจ็บปวด
daai dtae yin yom rap kwaam jep bpuat
I can only willingly accept the pain.

และฉันจะอดทน แม้แทบขาดใจ
lae chan ja ot ton mae taep kaat jai
And I will bear it although this is torturing me.

ไม่อาจจะวิ่งหนีความจริงที่มันโหดร้าย
mai aat ja wing nee kwaam jing tee man hoht raai
Can never escape the cruel reality.

จะพร้อมจะยอมเข้าใจความเปลี่ยนแปลง
ja prom ja yom kao jai kwaam bplian bplaeng
I am prepared to understand the changes.

จะอยู่เพื่อเรียนรู้ความเจ็บปวด
ja yoo peua rian roo kwaam jep bpuat
I will live on to learn the pain.

จะฝืนเดินต่อไป แม้ไร้เรี่ยวแรง
ja feun dern dtor bpai mae rai rieow raeng
I will move on even though there is no strength left in me.

และคงมีที่สักวันนึง ฉันจะเข้มแข็ง
lae kong mee tee sak wan neung chan ja kem kaeng
And someday I will become strong.

ถึงแม้ไม่รู้ต้องนานสักเท่าไร
teung mae mai roo dtong naan sak tao-rai
Although I never know how long that will take.

เธอ เธอเคยเป็นทุกสิ่ง
ter ter koie bpen took sing
You, you were my everything.

จะขอขอบคุณทุกอย่าง ที่เคยให้ฉันจนวันนี้
ja kor kop koon took yaang tee koie hai chan jon wan nee
I would like to thank you for all the things you have given me until today.

ถ้าคนจะไป ก็ต้องไป
taa kon ja bpai gor dtong bpai
If someone must go, then it must be.

รักเท่าไรแต่ฉันคงทำได้เท่านี้
rak tao-rai dtae chan kong tam daai tao nee
No matter how much love I have but this is all I am able to do.

ได้แต่ยินยอมรับความเจ็บปวด
daai dtae yin yom rap kwaam jep bpuat
I can only willingly accept the pain.

และฉันจะอดทน แม้แทบขาดใจ
lae chan ja ot ton mae taep kaat jai
And I will bear it although this is torturing me.

ไม่อาจจะวิ่งหนีความจริงที่มันโหดร้าย
mai aat ja wing nee kwaam jing tee man hoht raai
Can never escape the cruel reality.

จะพร้อมจะยอมเข้าใจความเปลี่ยนแปลง
ja prom ja yom kao jai kwaam bplian bplaeng
I am prepared to understand the changes.

จะอยู่เพื่อเรียนรู้ความเจ็บปวด
ja yoo peua rian roo kwaam jep bpuat
I will live on to learn the pain.

จะฝืนเดินต่อไป แม้ไร้เรี่ยวแรง
ja feun dern dtor bpai mae rai rieow raeng
I will move on even though there is no strength left in me.

และคงมีที่สักวันนึง ฉันจะเข้มแข็ง
lae kong mee tee sak wan neung chan ja kem kaeng
And someday I will become strong.

ถึงแม้ไม่รู้ต้องนานสักเท่าไร
teung mae mai roo dtong naan sak tao-rai
Although I never know how long that will take.

และคงมีที่สักวันนึง ฉันจะเข้มแข็ง
lae kong mee tee sak wan neung chan ja kem kaeng
And someday I will become strong.

ถึงแม้ไม่รู้ต้องนาน....สักเท่าไร
teung mae mai roo dtong naan .... sak tao-rai
Although I never know how long that will take.
Taken from http://www.ethaimusic.com/lyrics3/621.htm

-----------------------------------------------------

RaNdOM totS aNd SiGHts

2006-12-22T02:10:00.000+08:00

Morning alarm at 730... too early. I have failed to wake up at 730 again. Coz i was packing my luggage last night...

SIA bought another 9 A380 (Asia Biz News on BBC)??!!

The same motocyc was waiting for me. I look at him. He nods. I nodded. We got onto his bike and off we went. The same traffic jam. The same stalls along the street. Dug out a 20 from my shirt pocket. Korp Khun Krap. He smile. Few words exchanged. It had became a routine...

A young thai boy was standing on the ground floor looking up at the big christmas tree on the 2nd level. "Joy to theWorld" was playing. His brother was playing with the koi fishes beside him. He was pretty much lost in his own world. Does he understand Christmas? How's Christmas like for Thais? For a young Thai boy (i always think tt in abt 10 yrs, Bkk is going to be so much like SG. The people and the place)? Made a point to ask the people that i am going meet abt this today.

Gosh.. the girls on 28th Floor from the advertising agency always look so fashionable and pretty...

My colleague and partner were taking pics in front of the Q-House Lumpini, while waiting for me to arrive. Mickey Mouse and Donald duck?!

Christmas carols are being played in this building too. So Utain, why are all the buildings playing Christmas Carols? "I dunno... most thais dun celebrate and its not even a public holiday."

Met 2 clients today. "So how ya spending your holiday season?" "Going outcountry.." Thais love to travel within their own country. Cheap and many places to see. And Thai is only used in Thailand only. Not a useful language.

Went to "Hong Kong Mkt" for lunch. Haven't quite eaten here for sometime. Had "Gao Lao Bhet" (duck soup with vege). Thai street food always just mix vege and meat together as a single dish. Cheap and good!

Rushed to another site today. The usual jam along Suriwong. Slept on the journey. Woke up abt 20min later... cab fare was abt 65. I love the taxis in Bkk... cheap and good. But know your roads... i paid a few sch fees liaoz. Its quite funny when u get those out of country drivers and you got to teach them how to go to places.

I got a little disoriented as i walked up the bridge. Left or Right. Gosh, I've walked this bridge SO MANY TIMES!!! Left to Paragon, RIght to Central World.

Accor Group. They owe Novotels and Sofitels in the region... The people here speaks good english.

It is freezing cold in the server room. So I held my hands together in front of my face. Just then, my client came in and greeted me "Sawadee krap". I looked at him, a little puzzled. Then i realised, he tot that I was "wai-ing" tohim. We had a good laugh.

Walked around Central World. I think i will miss the freedom here.

Nice weather. It's abt 27 degrees. Some sunshine. Some wind. Cooling, yet there's warmth from the sun. I love the weather. I heard tt it can get to abt 5 degrees in Chiang Mai at this time.

"Hello, do you need anything?" "Adobe illustrator. U can use it for your collages next time too" "they are my tools wherever I go". I wonder where i will go next. What i will be doing.

Its so easy to spot SG people in Bkk. Go to Siam or Chatuchak, keep quiet and listen. You WILL hear a SG talking somewhere... 4 guys talking abt their shopping trip?!?! I met them again at MBK. They were pretty surprise to see someone in office clothes, carrying a laptop, talking onthe phone in SG English. HAHA...

Stupid Alvin offed his HP. Too bad, I can't get your Ume Shumero "Hold Down Gum". Its suppose to be SUPER HARD hair gel. I wonder how much does it cost?!!?!

Went to Patpong with a SG colleague and his gf. The vendor quoted 900 for a leg chain!?! Discussed in thai. 400! OK! Darn... i think it could go lower.

Same CD shop. Darn... i dun have a DVD writer/ reader at home?! Can only settle for the CDs. It costs 1/2 the price than in SG, if you can find. Anyone can donate a old drive?

Stupid 10 baht can't be accepted by the BTS ticketing machine. A nice guy offered to chnage that 10 baht.

I hardly get to sit on trains. Coz i know i will have to give up my seat as someone else who needs it more will come onboard. I got my seat today and decided to sit on to it.

Nice dinner today. Celebrating the New Yr / Xmas with the rest of my thai colleagues coz i am leaving for SG tom. Beautiful place. Its call Dairy Queen, Krung Bhpet Saphan. Near to Pier 61, further down Yok Yor. Nicer food and nicer environment than Yok Yor. But a little further. Many traditional thai food today. 6 people, < SGD 90. Brought our own Red Label and Red wine. No corkage. "Raw prawns and bittergourd with chilli and fish sauce".. can't rem the name of the dish. I first had it at a restaurant in Thong Lo with a thai friend.

Thais loce to just speak in thai. I'm lost in my own world again. Sometimes picking up some funny things. Sometimes just simply lost... Gonna take sometime to understand people. Although its a little to let people understand where i wanna go and wat i wanna eat.

Salary in thai can be very low... ireally dunno how they survive on it. There's a social fund and also a provident fund, to provide BASIC medical needs and retirement planning. Sometimes i feel guilty about spending too much. Sometimes it irks me tt our company pays them so little. But thais are Happy Go Lucky people... they just carry on with their life..Sook San...

I tot... BKK seems small. But as i explore further, there's more to this place. (I only know the BTS and MRT regions!) The people, their old culture, the ermerging culture, the buildings, the roads.. all foreign but sometimes seemed familar... Kinda getting used to the place.

Betting on the Future

2006-12-10T23:45:00.000+08:00

Having a Vision?
Having a good Hunch?
Think you have good Foresight?

Let's take a bet on the Future!
http://www.ideosphere.com/

HCM Day 1

2006-12-09T02:49:00.000+08:00

My first collage.. Haven't quite figure how to put up a bigger pic without sacrificing the pic. Seems like each time i upload a pic to somewhere, it will be automatically resized. Anyone any suggestions?
-------------------------------------------------
After 3 mths of waiting (Tiger cheap tickets available 3mths ahead), finally, touch down! Casting aside work, projects, deadlines, complaints... well, 300 miles away, but just a phonecall away too,
Its HOLIDAY! For a WEEK!
Some may wonder, 1 week? Isn't tt long? I think its just enough.. if only i have 1 mth. Sadly seems like SG people dun have the luxury of time. we shld have some sort of long holidays!

Itinerary
For this week, the brieft itinerary is to travel down south. From HCM, we will travel along Mekong Delta to a small town call Can Tho, then from there we will break off from the main group, make our way to a port town call Rach Gia, then taking a 1hr ferry to the island. The return trip will be to fly a USD 33 Viet Airline back to HCM and reutrn to SG.
More on Phu Quoc. Highly recommended for a peaceful and relaxing getaway.

This is my 1st time taking budget airlines. Actually i kinda like it, as it is really hassle free. Its cheap, efficient and convenient.

After 1 1/2hrs, we touched down at Tan Son Nhat Int Airport. The airport is smaller than what i will expect of an international airport. But at least the waiting time for baggage is faster than at Suvarnabhumi.

After negotiating with the touts, we got our ride to Empress Hotel for USD 5. Pretty standard. During our exploration, we did realise that buses there can be taken with more ease as the destination is clearly spelt out on the bus. Not like in BKK, where most signss are in Thai.
Chaotic roads with mostly scooters. Gone r the days of bicycles and "cyclos" as the gov slowly phase them out.

After checking in, we grab a tourist map, and easily oriented ourselves to walk. We walked to the Backpackers' Street, along Pham Ngu Lao, to book our tours. settling for some vietnam fast food along the way .(Basically like KFC). Highly recommend Sinhcafe for any tour packages.

I will that my excellent travel mate is so informative, well-read and accomdative! Thanks!

The rest of the day was spent walking around the town to hunt for the elusive Parkson shopping centre! We spent hours finding in. We only had the name of the street and a map. However in HCM, once you take out a map and start looking lost, there will always be someone to come around to help you. Sincere helpers who will help call on others if they don't know. But still, we spent hours finding the place. Crossing the streets can be very challenging. Just look at the motorcyclist, cross confidently. The bikes will siam you. If not, there will be friendly tourist police at major road junctions to help you. (i heard that Hanoi people are less friendly. Will find out on our next trip) Finally after finding the place, we realised it was actually just around the courner, while we had simply just walked behind it!

It was actually a fruitful walk. Looking at the map, we realised we have covered much of the town. And even being able to recognise some key roads and buildings. ALong the way, we passed by the famous hotels like Continental Hotel (breakfast there is supposing good), Rex Hotel (interesting pub), Ho Chi Min Statue.
Dinner was settled at a rather expensive (abt SGD 12 total - noodles can go for about SGD 2 on the streets) pasta as there din seem to be any food around.
Finally, we got back to the hotel and rested... Needed to have a good rest as this is going tobe few of the better hotels tt we r going to be staying... =)
Stay tuned for day II

Are We Alone?

2006-12-01T21:25:00.000+08:00

Nope.. it is not an article with SETI...
I was having a conversation with the taxi uncle (making my mthly trip to BKK), when we came across the topic of travelling.
I told him of this SG traveller I met while in Vietnam (amazingly bumping into a SG in a small town can Can Ton, 3 hrs bus ride south of HCM. Not a tourist, but a traveller, some would even call him an explorer. This guy is amazing! He had travelled half the globe overland. Via train, bus, cars, cows, ox, wateva transport there is. Smuggled into Tibet (back then Tibet was still closed to the outside world), caught by Gong An, travelled the Silk Road 3 times, travelled through the Karakoram Highway, slept in train stations in winter time... an adventure at his time, an exploration of uncharted territories. An inspiration.
My travelling is less spectacular, just the lonesome trip to Cambodia. Travelling alone overland via bus and car, not really knowing what to expect. Then he asked me, "Aren't you afraid that you might get lost?" I was quite stunned for a moment as that question never really crossed my mind.
I had my handphone, though i wasn't sure i'll have coverage 24x7 (rest assure thatthe GSM infrastructure is rather good at all towns and along all major roads - dirt road or paved road). I called my sis (my mum would have gotten worried and all sorts). Had a self drawn map. Read the specific instructions given at http://www.et-pumpkin.com/modules.php?name=CMS&op=viewcmscat&mcid=40 , i made my trip. Getting lost alone in a foreign land, such as Cambodia, can indeed be a daunting and frightening to some. Daring? Foolish some may say. i will think tt places in africa or some arab countries would be worst... but i've yet to hear of any experience from there.
Today, a conversation with a close friend led to the discussion that I am actually a selfish person. Wanting things to go my way. Imposing my thinking on people. etc..
As we embark on our career (still a job to me.. not a career), have we grown more lonely? No longer are we kept in a protected school environment where our fellow students share the same hatred for the subject, the same complaints abt some lecturers or teachers, do group studies,, push the project to some other people (hmm.. kinda guilty for that at times). Many of us may find ourseleves in a situation where we have to face it alone. Perhaps a company trip overseas alone, to meet a client for the 1st time alone, stuck in some project tt no one could help, stationed overseas... being independent.
The overseas job alone, the trip alone, is less of loneliness, but more of a personnal experience. An endeavour to be embarked on towards self-discovery, self independence. A time of contemplation and planning of one's life. Mixing with different pple from all walks of life, frm different culture and ethic background, opens up one mind to many other things. The world is so big... Will i ever SEE the whole world with the limited time i have?
Has this lonelines lead to some sort of selfishness or self protection? It is like an armour, waiting to be stripped. (watched Casino Royale =) ). Still fnding my place in this world. Life at a cross junction again. Finding a path to walk...

Loi Khrathong

2006-11-08T00:37:00.000+08:00

Colorful Water – Loi krathong Great Festival
1-5 November 2006

“Loi Krathong” is traditionally performed on the full moon night of the twelfth lunar month, which usually falls on some day in November. The floating of a ‘Krathong' – a banana–leaf cup – is intended to float away ill fortune as well as to express apologies to Khongkha or Ganga, the River Goddess. Some believe that the ritual is meant to worship the Buddha's footprint on the bank of the Narmad-------a River, while others say that it is to pay respect to Phra Uppakhut, one of the Lord Buddha's great disciples.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celebrating with a bang on the 64th Floor at the State Tower. 3 restaurants/pubs are located at The Dome. "Mezza-Luna", "Sirocc" and "Distil". You will have the most magnificent view of the Chao Phraya, while Vertigo at Banyan Tree provides a spectacular view of the city itself. ANother "HIGHlight" place to go is Baiyoke Sky Hotel. These are the 3 top places to dine/hangout.

Greeting us at The State Tower was the annual Loi Krathong fireworks competition. It is a competition between the hotels along the river, Mainly by Shangri La, Marriot Spa, Hilton and Penninsular.

Sitting at the 64th floor, we had the best views of the fireworks. They were literally exploding in front of out face. I have never seen fireworks so close, so real so BIG before!

Pics available. Movie clips available upon request...

Remember to visit them during New Year Eve. =)

COUP...

2006-09-20T23:51:00.000+08:00

Headlines on the 2 main English Papers in Bkk.

A soldier at the junction of MBK and Siam Discovery. A yellow ribbon is tied to the nozzle of most rfiles. Yellow representing the King's colour.

Something that you will never see in a coup!!! Thai ordinary citizens going up to the soldiers for a piture!! I think this was broadcast on BBC too.

Thanks to everyone who had showed concern abt the situation in Thailand. As of now, the situation is still calm and peaceful. All is normal except the usual traffic and human jam are gone. Lesser cars and people on the streets, but there are still tourists and locals out there.

I was lazing in front of HBO when a friend from SG called. "Did you hear abt the situation in thailand? A state of Emergency had been declared!"
I was quite stunned to hear that. There had been rumours abt ousting Thaksin, but no signs of a coup. It happened quickly and swiftly. I bet thaksin must have been just as surprise. Unfortunately his orders to declare a state of emergency had not been enforced.
THe thais that i spoke to, acutually welcome this coup. It finally ended the many mths of unstable and uncertainties in the governmence and a promise of a new government. Definitely, the yellow ribbons play an significant role too.
I will think that its a first time that anyone witness a coup with people taking pics with the soldiers. It was reported that the soldiers were instructed to be friendly. Most thais certainly find them so.
Some may question the emocray of thecountry. But i will say that each country had their own unique way of getting things done. (work here for a yr and experience how the thais work.. its DIFFERENT from us). While coups were a common sight 15 years ago, this 1was peaceful. Wonder if Thaksin will react. Wonder if there will be any violence. Nevertheless, it is safe to travel to BKK... come and shop and immerse in its rich culture!

2006-08-19T21:38:00.001+08:00

Keane .. Live in Bangkok!! i was quite thrilled when i got the SMS promotion on my Dtac line. 10% off the tickets at ticketmaster. Especially after i had fallen in love with the song "Everybody's Changing".
Wanted to get those standing tickets (THB 2200), but when i was hesitate when i was told abt 300 tickets were sold when the standing capacity is closed to 3000. The 2nd photo showed it all. A rather pathetic attendance. However, the THB 800 sitting tickets, furtherest from the stage is packed. Even at THB 2200, the price is still pretty expensive for most people.
I got myself the THB 1600 tickets, sitted at the left hand side of the stage.
They will be playing at Mong Thong Thani, the place which held the "Bangkok Rock Fest" and many other exhibitions are held. A little further north of Dong Meung Airport.
The turnout was disappointing, but the crowd was escellent. The 2 brits beside me loved the crowd. With songs such as Everybody's Changing, Somewhere Only We Know, Might as Well be Stangers, This is the Last Time.... The songs were great, the crowd was great, just tat there were too little people. unlike the Rock Fest... without the large crowd, the whole stadium seems rather dead... Din really quite enjoy myself.. but it was a good experience at a Live Band performance. I think the atmosphere with the crowd and the band at "Slim" in RCA is still better....
EveryBody's Changing...

Sadly, the pics din really turn out good..

2006-08-19T21:38:00.000+08:00

Songs...

2006-07-27T10:36:00.000+08:00

I woke up 1 morning and "Everybody's Changing" was playing on the TV. Think was BBC playing as it shows images of a successful NASA mission.
Great Song indeed...
I never fancy going to the CD shop... somehow the music never sound as good. I found my favourite songs while walking on the streets, in the movies, while walking on the beac (with those pubs playing beach songs), while eating in a restaurant, walking along Sum Lum (there's this shop that plays great music and i like walking down that alley), while chilling out at some cafe... it could be anything from rock to pop to classical, from English to chinese, to thai to french... somewhere with a setting, somewhere unexpected... that's where i find the songs i like...

Everybody's Changing

2006-07-25T17:54:00.000+08:00

"Everybody's Changing"

You say you wander your own land
But when I think about it
I don't see how you can
You're aching, you're breaking
And I can see the pain in your eyes
Says everybody's changing
And I don't know why

So little time
Try to understand that I'm
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I try to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody's changing
And I don't feel the same

You're gone from here
And soon you will disappear
Fading into beautiful light
Cause everybody's changing
And I don't feel right

So little time
Try to understand that I'm
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I try to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody's changing
And I don't feel the same

So little time
Try to understand that I'm
Trying to make a move just to stay in the game
I try to stay awake and remember my name
But everybody's changing
And I don't feel the same

hmm... i shall brush my teeth 3 times everyday!

2006-07-10T15:13:00.000+08:00

You scored as Disease. Your death will be by disease. Maybe a foreign bug or you don't brush your teeth. Ew. BRUSH!

Disease

87%

Disappear

80%

Bomb

73%

Natural Causes

67%

Suicide

60%

Drowning

53%

Posion

40%

Eaten

40%

Cut Throat

33%

Suffocated

20%

Stabbed

20%

Accident

Gunshot

How Will You Die??
created with QuizFarm.com

A Sea of Yellow

2006-07-06T18:24:00.000+08:00

The thais celebrated KingBhumibol's accession of the throne for 60 years in a great "fashion" of yellow. More than 100,000 thais gathered in yellow tees, to show their love and respect for the king outside the palace.

"Its not the king that i see in the picture, but the hearts of the thai people...."

Will it be a sea of red and white on 9th August?

A typical Average Singaporean

2006-07-06T12:34:00.000+08:00

A typical Average Singaporean
Some people complain about the monotonous and structured life they have. But what are they doing about it? Don't many of us just settle down into the comfort zone? Breaking away is always tough, taking the step out is never easy. "A ship will never discover new shore unless it loses sight of the shore". I think it goes something like tt.. u get the idea.

I was reading the sgForum about this guy deciding to drive from Bangkok to SG with some of his thai friends. There were a mixture of reaction in the replies. Some were saying "you're crazy!! People invented the plane and you choose to drive. Its like walking instead of driving!!"

Life is not a destination, but a journey... do we miss out alot in our lives as we hurry by?

As someone once said to me, " to choose a narrow path with a broad mind or to choose a broad path with a narrow mind." Taking the path less travelled can be lonely, but it will broaden your pespective of the things around you. One seems to be jsut conforming to society as he chooses to take the safer path that everyone else is travelling on.

But travelling on that lonely path, sacrifices were made... Forced by circumstances rather than by choice, Regrets? A little at times... but moving on...

A phone call...

2006-07-04T02:51:00.000+08:00

its really sad when someone cannot rem your voice...

Bkk by Bus

2006-06-29T10:53:00.000+08:00

Taking a bus in bkk can be both enjoyable and challenging at the same time, very much dependent on the traffic conditions. The buses comes in various colours and sizes, aircon and non-aircon, some with destinations in English some don't.
This morning while taking a bus to work, an old lady tapped my bag and asked me to take the empty seat. I hadn't notice tt seat as I was facing the other direction. Usually, a kind soul who is seated down, will offer to carry your bag for you. Once there was this lady who had this "omg, your bag is so heavy!" look when i passed her my laptop bag. From then on, i don't pass my bag to anyone anymore. This happen the same in Song tel... Really applaud their helpfulness.
Going up the bus, i was surprise by the cleanliness. I hated the non-aircon services, esp when the bus is packed and road is jam. Its really terrible! Although there's always the helpful soul around to help me carry the bag.
I wonder how come thailand ranks so low in the Friendliest Nation award... hmm...

Movies directed by Steven Spielberg

2006-06-18T22:20:00.000+08:00

Just finished watching "The Terminal" on HBO. Another movie by Steven Spielberg. I've watched 15 movies directed by him and I had enjoyed everyone of them!!

All time favourite:
1. Empire of the Sun (love the choir, an Irish lullaby - Suo Gan)
2. Schindler's List (love the piano piece)
3. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (the action)

Which is your favourite?

Extracted from: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000229/

Director - filmography
(In Production) (2000s) (1990s) (1980s) (1970s) (1960s) (1950s)

Indiana Jones 4 (2007) (pre-production)
Untitled Steven Spielberg/Abraham Lincoln Project (2007) (pre-production)
Munich (2005)
War of the Worlds (2005)
The Terminal (2004)
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Minority Report (2002)
Artificial Intelligence: AI (2001)
... aka A.I. Artificial Intelligence (USA: poster title)
The Unfinished Journey (1999)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Amistad (1997)
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Steven Spielberg's Director's Chair (1996) (VG)
Schindler's List (1993)
Jurassic Park (1993)
... aka JP (USA: promotional abbreviation)
Amazing Stories: Book One (1992) (V) (segment "The Mission")
Hook (1991)
The Visionary (1990) (V) (segment "Par for the Course")
Always (1989)
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)
Empire of the Sun (1987)
The Color Purple (1985)
"Amazing Stories"
... aka Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories (USA: complete title)
- The Mission (1985) TV Episode
- Ghost Train (1985) TV Episode
"Strokes of Genius" (1984) (mini) TV Series (introductory segments) (uncredited)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)
Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983) (segment 2)
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
... aka E.T. (USA: short title)
... aka E.T. the Extra- Terrestrial: The 20th Anniversary (USA: longer version)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
... aka Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark (USA: video title)
1941 (1979)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
... aka CE3K (USA: informal short title)
... aka Close Encounters of the Third Kind: Special Edition (USA: reissue title)
Jaws (1975)
The Sugarland Express (1974)
Savage (1973) (TV)
... aka The Savage File (USA)
... aka Watch Dog
Something Evil (1972) (TV)
Duel (1971) (TV)
"Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law"
- Eulogy for a Wide Receiver (1971) TV Episode
Columbo: Murder by the Book (1971) (TV)
"The Psychiatrist"
- Par for the Course (1971) TV Episode
- The Private World of Martin Dalton (1971) TV Episode
"The Name of the Game"
- Los Angeles 2017 (1971) TV Episode
"Night Gallery"
... aka Rod Serling's Night Gallery (USA)
- Make Me Laugh (1971) TV Episode
"Marcus Welby, M.D."
... aka Robert Young, Family Doctor
- The Daredevil Gesture (1970) TV Episode
Night Gallery (1969) (TV) (segment "Eyes")
... aka Rod Serling's Wax Museum (USA)
Amblin' (1968)
Slipstream (1967) (unfinished)
Firelight (1964)
Fighter Squad (1961)
Escape to Nowhere (1961)

Siem Raep

2006-06-17T00:50:00.000+08:00

5 days of holidays (+ sat and sun) to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Thai's King accession of the throne. Excellent time to go out country.

The plan is to take a bus from Mo Chit Train station (Northern station) to the border of Thai/Cambodia, Arayanprethet/Poi Pet. Then frm there to transfer to some trucks. Stay in some backpackers guesthouse and return via the same way. Approximate expenditure on transport, Overland travel around the World!

The day started wrongly with the alarm failing to wake me up at 5am. Maybe it did, but i might had been too tired as i was watching the 1st game of WC2006. So hurried out to get to the train station. When I got to Mo Chit, had to take another motocyc to Mo Chit Bus station. Darn those exhaust, its the 2nd time i burnt myself!

Had to take the private bus, which is a little cheaper but takes abt 2 hrs longer to get to the border!

Border of Cambodai )Poi Pet. Friendly backpackers and police to guide me around. Hengz SG pple no need to pay for the USD 20 visa. Some scammers were trying to sell to me and the others at USD 100?!?!?!

The pathetic buss that could only go at 50km/h!!?! Driver claims that the gear is spoilt. The roads are very uneven so traelling tt slowly REALLY made the whole trip very bumpy.
There were 2 Fins (very friendly people who used to study in Penang and NUS), 2 Amercians, 3 Swedish (whom 1 had some bladder problem and had to stop a couple of times for her to go the bathroom. Not the best experience she had with the village toilets), couple of canadians, 1 french and as usual 1 SINGAPOREAN!
We left Poi Pet at 3pm, but reached Siem Reap at 10?!?! The journey was suppose to take around 5 hours only!!!

After tt, the guide brought us to this guest house. NONE of us stayed as we all think its a scam and decided to venture out at arnd 10pm at nite to find accomodation. No worries.. its pretty easy to find... =) luckily its not peak season!

Darn those conversion rates.1 Baht to 100 Riels. 40 Baht to 1 USD. 1 USD to 1.67 SGD. Well.. bring USD.. Baht rates sux and they dun accept 10 baht coins. Worst if they return you in Riels?!

Basically i booked a fan room for USD 5 a nite. I was too tired too really bothered the heat. But anyways it was pretty cooling at nite. Clean toilets. But the water smells "metallish"

Hired a motorcycle for 1000 baht a day (meals inclusive). Its kinda expensive but i think its pretty worthed it. I wanted him to bring me to non-tourists places, so basically i eat watever he eats. His name is Sophia ( isnt tt a girl's name??) and he'll bring me to anywhere i want. Saves the hassle of haggling. At abt USD 1 per trip for a tuk tuk or motorcyc, i figured its pretty worth while.

1 USD for 1 liter of petrol at the road side. Expensive.

Its all ruins and ancient buildings in Angkor Wat. Shan't bore anyone with the pics.
Entrance fee is at USD 20 for a day pass. USD 40 for 3 days and USD 60 for a 6 days pass.
YUPZ.. 6 days.. the place is HUGE. IF YOU ARE REALLY into history and stuffs, then take the 6 days packaage. Else u can pretty much cover most of the impt places in abt 3 days. There's a lot of climbing of STEEP steps, so get ready for some workout!

Few ways to learn abt the place:
1. Ask the locals (see if the speak english)
2. Listen to the tour guides tt are bringing the SCORES of chinese tourists and europeans. Its USD 20 a day for a guide?! and another abt USD 10 for the transport a day inside the place.
3. Buy a guidebook. Read and immerse yourself in the serenity of Angkor Wat. Which is wat i did. Get to 1 temple. Find somewhere cooling and sit down and do some reading abt the history of the place, places to look out for etc... a very different travelling experience.

Note those steeps steps i mentioned. Many a times u have to "crawl" up and down.

The serenity of the waters surrounding Angkor Wat. A popular Lovers Hangout on weekends.
Kinda scary at some places.... There is usually a altar inside the temple where an old lady will chant and offer you incense. Of coz u will have to pay for that.

My motor cyc driver, Sophia. He doesn't wash his hair till the last day.. damn... it sux when he removes it and i am sitting at the back of the motor cyc!!!

There was this time when he got lost. I really panic. Wasted USD 5 to get back to the guesthouse and rendenvous with him after the guesthouse manager manages to get him. No reception at parts of Angkor Wat.A HERD of chinese tourist. Its flooding with them. Noisy people. Many thais too. I manged to 'hear' 2 groups of Msia and SG in the crowds. Met 1 couple at a mountain where we stopped and rest after a 30min climb. Taking budget airlines, sleeping at budget guesthouse. 2 weeks of travels around Siem Raep and Phom Phen. Too bad they are not visiting Sihanuokville. The coastal area of Cambodia. On the southern end, nearer to Phon Phem.

A weekend hangout for Cambodians.... Oh.. cambodian people enters for free. If I had dressed more cambodish, I could have blended in... haha. My motorcyc driver's friends tot i was 1 of them and offered beer...
I tot it looked like 1 of the wallpaper from Windows.
Cambodia kids i met playing hide and seek with me haha...

Hall of Dances... some of the more visible artifects remaining. Most are pretty much destroyed by looters and wars.

A pair of cambodian kids in their traditional uniforms playing "scissors paper stones".
Most of them like to wear Black pants and white shirts. And i tot their military uniforms (no 1) looked a little like the Thais.

Climbing to the top of Ta Phrom. People of all nationalities gathered here to view the sunset. A rather interesting sight to see people of all hair/skin colours gathered in 1 place.

Evidence tt i crossed the border... =)
THe return trip was much better as i got my motocyc guy to arrange a taxi. Shared with 1 couply sitting in the front seat, 1 driver, backseat, 1 monk, 1 pregnant lady and husband who speaks english , and me. A little packed, but it only took 2.5 hrs!!!

Push carts at the border to ferry foods and humans.

The tuks tuks in Cambo is slightly different from bkk. its like a motor cycle with a trailer at the end of it Its more comfortable for 2 people. Recommended.
Back to bkk. Back to Work...
Busy Week...

Identity

2006-06-17T00:45:00.000+08:00

Working out at Fitness First Plus at Q House Lumpini, intersection of Sathorn Road and Rama VI. Took a bus back to Sathorn Sol 11. Took a Song Tel from Sol 11 to apartment. An expatriate? A tourist? Or a local?

婷。。。走了，

2006-05-31T22:48:00.000+08:00

X Men Craze

2006-05-31T19:20:00.000+08:00

You Are Storm

Exotic and powerful, Storm descended from a line of African priestesses.
Emotions can effect your powers, but you are generally serene.

Powers: controlling weather, creating winds that lift you into flight, generating lightning

Which of the X-Men Are You?

Exploring Chao Phraya

2006-05-30T00:28:00.001+08:00

z
To those who are going to visit Bkk, travelling via Chao Phraya, is an excellent way to beat those heavy traffic jams and smoky roads on a busy weekend. Adventure begins with a Song Tael ride (6 baht.. an increase of 1 baht from 1st May) to Saphan Taksin Station. From there, take a boat (18 baht) at Chao Phraya Express to Ta Dien (Da3 Tien1) pier, abt 5 piers away.

Street Soccer under the bridge

B4 u do tt boat ride, if u wanna catch a good glimsp of Shangri La, Hilton, Sheraton hotel (basically the 5 stars hotels along CPY), take a short walk up the bridge. The staircase is located abt 10m away from the pier. At the other end of the bridge, there is a couple of street soccer courts where many young boys are playing. Thais are quite skilful i must say. Tp get back t other end of the shore, there is a regular ferry service. The price was abt 1 baht some yrs ago, recently it rose to 2 baht, and now its 3 baht.

On the boat ride, there is a short english commentary of each pier, describing the tourist attractions around it. There's a pier to go to Hualumphong (train), another to go to Yawarat (Chinatown)

Supposingly a popular seafood place with thais... yet to try. Yok Yor Marina Restaurant.
But i heard of a THB 129 seafood buffet at Lao Prao... gonna try tt some day. =)

Wat Po

I arrived at Ta Dien and followed the crowd to get to the temple. Easy. Getting in is another thing. I walked around the temple as I am not really interested in going in. I realise there were actually 2 entraces. 1 for locals, and at the other end of temple, another 1 for foreigners. I suspect tt foreigners are charged more.

There were many tour groups. But the most obvious are the Chinese. 1 big ching gay gathering and talking loudly. The germans and other europeans usually have a dedicated tour guide to themselves. There was also a good mix of locals.

The most interesting thing tt happened was when i entered the Royal Grand Palace. I was in berms and sandles. So I was directed to a room to rent a pair of trousers. 100 baht, but refundable. There were alot of tourists in there.

2nd thing tt happened was when i was at another entrance. There was 2 paths to choose. 1 reads, "Foreigners this way", the other sign reads, "Free for Thais". both signs were in English. Okies, at least they din try to hide it. I stood there, and the guard started speaking to me. Darn.. i tot i could sneak in. Anyways, i decided to explore the area and came to the "exit". I din notice it until i walked in, realising most people were actually walking in the opposite direction. I walked past some guards. No questions asked... so i just proceed.

Royal Palace
Me!~

Royal Sulpture

Royal Guard. Their No 1 uniform. Many people took photo with him.

A ceremonial open area much like our Padang, where royal celebrations are held

The hot day ended with a stroll in a park. Padang style. People flying kites, having their fortune told by tarot cards, people lazing arnd. Another day inBkk...

Thanks!!

2006-05-28T00:23:00.000+08:00

Thanks to all those who smsed, MSN, blogged and called to wish me a Happy Birthday!! Deep touched!! Esp now in a foreign land.
Amazingly enuff, while having drinks at Suan Lum with a colleague, the lady that served us drinks had the same birth date!!! Except tt she is a 10 yrs younger... A DECADE younger! gosh... I felt really then... But moving on to the next phase in life...
Sadly i can't join you guys at the gathering... but received all your smses...
Had a bday cake from my thai colleagues... Thanks!
Thanks esp to the one who smsed, blogged and called. I managed to recover fro m tt flu with a few brews of liang cha and 2 packets of Fishermen's Friend...

Happy Birthday!!!

2006-05-27T00:01:00.000+08:00

Happy 26th Birthday!! Or what the thais will say... "Sook Sun Wan Gerd!"

Sounds in your dreams

2006-05-23T19:09:00.000+08:00

Been having some dreams lately... vaguely remember them. Images, scenes, but no sounds. Are there sounds when you dream? Do you rem hearing anything? Or are they just what you think you heard in your dreams? A little voice tt is talking inside your mind when the physical you is in dreamland?

Ups and Downs in Bkk

2006-05-20T03:52:00.000+08:00

Wednesday, 17 May 2006, 7,30pm, Empire Tower.

Alone in the office, hungry, raining. No food in the building, no food in the streets. No one to call. No umbrella. Many other people stranded at the lobby of the building.

Low point in Bkk.. but not the lowest point.

Only cup noodles at the 7-11 in the building. No pei pei mian for me. Taking a brisk walk in the rain, i went to the other 7-11 about 30m away. At least there are instant noodles. =)

I’ve carrots, tomatoes, xiao bai cai in the apt. =)

No taxis, stuck at 7-11. Heck.. just walk to the opposite side where its easier to get a taxi. A tuk tuk.. 50 baht.. well.. not in a position to negotiate. The streets are dark and the roads are flooded. =(

I learnt how to survive in this city by myself. Who’s there to guide me to where to go? What to learn? Where to eat? How to speak? My friend called the internet. Unlike most people who prob have mentors around... learning the hard way i think. Surviving...

Its really hot in the apt so i decided to sit at the lobby. Amazingly, i bumped into a SG. He said something.. and HA... tt gave him away. Someone tt i can talk to. =)

Turns out tt he is working in SG embassy. At least its not Sai Yoke Camp.

Sadly, no electricity for abt 5 hrs...

Ordinary Saturday Morning

2006-05-13T10:46:00.000+08:00

Woke up at 6am today (its 7am in SG), but its too early for me. So lazing in bed, listening to BBC (well, the TV is always on). Finally decided to start my day early, 7am. Washed up, went to have a run in the gym (no air-con, old machines, run down gym) at the apt. Realise how unfit i am as i am panting after a short 20 min run. Desperately need to get back to fitness to prepare for the annual IPPT. I have no intention to fail, in which will have to take those dreaded remedial training. I had seen how those guys suffered.
After which, i decided to take a walk around the neighbourhood. I have never done it in the morning as i am always too lazy to do so on weekends.
There's a bustling mkt just around the corner. What is always so quiet in the afternoons and evening is actually a "wet market". Its actually quite dry and clean.. much dryer than the 1s in SG.
500g of prawns = THB 100
100g of biscuit with jam = THB 20
Tomatoes, carrots, Xiao bai cai = THB 50
100g of Mangoes = THB 20!
DimSum (sun kuei) = THB 15 each
There were durians, but i couldn't smell them. But by the time i return back to find the stall, it was gone.. darn! So was the watermelon stall..
Interestingly, i never quite like to go to the mkt with my mum. Coz i hate the smell. Now , bo pian.
Just a simple day in bangkok..

Cabbies

2006-05-06T23:15:00.000+08:00

I was really skeptical about taking cab by myself today in Jakarta. Well, my dear colleagues had left for Bandung and all flights to SG on fri were full (everyone rushing home to vote i presume, but din they know that they can vote in 8 major cities around the world, though i am not sure Jkt is 1 of them. I din need to vote, so i hadn't bothered to checked it). I had heard alot of stories abt cabbies in Jkt. They love to bring you for rides because the tollway can be very confusing if you hadn't been there long enough, Basically, it is a circle loop that surrounds the city centre, with branches of roads connecting to the main circle to go to other parts of jkt. So theoretically, you can go to airport in either directions.
With my big luggage, i went down the apartment to get my cab. Darn... no blue birds or silver birds (anyone will tell you they are the most reliable cabs around). Only Gamba. I stood around for a while before a cabbie approaches me. "Selemat Pagi" "Airport" "Ma Kah Si". 3 words to let him know where I am going. With such a big luggage, where else can i be going?
hmm.. he took a different direction than the usual route tt my colleague take. But I am not abt to let him know I am tt foreign to the place. Usually I can pass off as a local, IF i dun talk too much.
I paid the toll, RUP 10k for 2 tolls. okies. at least he knows that I know how much is the toll. I am not some "cai tou".
After going up the toll and travelling for abt 20 min (no jam in the mornings, but i had to leave the apt 2 1/2 hrs earlier to be sure. I HATE THE JAMS on the tollway) before i finally see some road signs that reads "Suekarno Hatta". =) (tt's the name of the airport in case u dunno, named after the 1st president and 1st vice president of Indonesia)
Honest driver. So i tipped him abt RUP 5k tt's only abt a dollar.
What is interesting is that at the tolls (got to past 2 tolls), i saw that he got some change from the cashier (its abt a couple of hundreds, which is just abt a few cents). In thailand, the taxi driver will always return me all the change, no matter how little, but the Indo driver simply keeps quiet abt it. Well, not tt i am particular abt the few cents, but it just speaks abt the general population in Indo. Not tt they r dishonest, but rather, tips and all is just part of their daily life.
If u ever park you car in Indo, DO rem to tip the guy tt finds u a lot or who gives u direction on how to park your car. In bkk, you dun have to do tt. I was adoing some mental calculation. Imagine this guy gets abt 1k per car. ALl he has to do is to get abt 100 cars a day and he'll be earning 3mil a month. That's abt what an engineer is paid here. Imagine tt. No need to worry abt join future, no need to worry abt meeting angry customers (coz if u dun tip, u never know wat will happen to your car).
Back to the cabbies... So its a good first experience taking a cab alone in Jkt, But never let your guard down. Coz there are always some bad ones around.
I've met like sleepy drivers (who drove at 40km/h on the highway even though he understood tt we r in a rush), I've met a talkative driver (who was trying his best to impress us with his English, Mandarin, Teochew, Cantonese, German, Jap...). I've met nasty drivers that overcharged me coz it was peak period and was driving extremely recklessly), I've met nice drivers who tries to teach me thai.
Back in SG. The driver i got today was a friendly 1. He was trying to tell me all abt the elections that is going on. There were rude cabbies (Mercs cabbies sux), extremenly talkative 1s, funny 1s, those who were once rich but went backrupt 1s, commandos (who always never fail to share their stories when i am going back to camp).
Cabbies... they represent the people from that country. Love them, hate them.. depends on your luck. But I think if one was to look at them, you will have instinct to know if they good or bad.

Endorphine - Nam dtem kaew

2006-04-28T15:33:00.000+08:00

This song is called "nam dtem kaew" from the album สักวา ๔๙ by Endorphine.

วันๆที่เป็นอยู่ เฝ้าทำเพื่อเธอทุกอย่าง
wan-wan tee bpen yoo fao tam peua ter took yaang
Every day I did everything for you.

แต่ใจเธอไม่เคยลืมรักครั้งเก่า
dtae jai ter mai koie leum rak krang gao
But your heart never forget your past love.

เธอเป็นแก้วใบหนึ่ง ที่เต็มไปด้วยน้ำเปล่า
ter bpen gaew bai neung tee dtem bpai duay naam bplao
You are like a glass that is full of water,

ยิ่งเทเติมลงไปมีแต่ล้นออก
ying tay dterm long bpai mee dtae lon ok
which overflows when it is filled with water

คนเก่า รักเก่า เธอไม่เคยลบเลือน
kon gao rak gao ter mai koie lop leuan
Your past love is still in your heart.

คนใหม่ รักใหม่ เลยท้อ
kon mai rak mai loie tor
The one who (now) loves you is feeling disheartened.

จริงๆเข้าใจอยู่ กับความทรงจำครั้งเก่า
jing-jing kao jai yoo gap kwaam song jam krang gao
I understand that you hold on to the past memories.

แต่อย่าเอามันมาปิดกั้นหัวใจ
dtae yaa ao man maa bpit gan hua jai
But do not use it to seal the door to your heart.

เปลี่ยนเป็นแก้วเปล่า แก้วใหม่ เปิดใจทีนะเธอ
bplian bpen gaew bplao gaew mai bpert jai tee na ter
Change your heart into an empty glass, a new glass. Open your heart,

รับหน่อย รู้หน่อย ความรัก จากฉัน
rap noi roo noi kwaam rak jaak chan
accept and know my love for you.

ฉันยังต้องรออีกนานไหม ต้องรอเธออีกนานไหม
chan yang dtong ror eek naan mai dtong ror ter eek naan mai
How much longer must I wait? Must I wait for a long time?

ถึงจะได้เจอกับรักที่เธอเคยบอกฉัน
teung ja daai jer gap rak tee ter koie bok chan
Only then will I have your love.

เมื่อไหร่รักเก่าระเหย ฉันรอให้เธอได้ลืมเขาสักวัน
meua-rai rak gao ra-hoie chan ror hai ter daai leum kao sak wan
When will you forget your past love? I am waiting for you to forget her.

เพื่อการเริ่มใหม่ ครั้งใหม่ เพื่อเธอกับฉันและรักเรา
peua gaan rerm-mai krang mai peua ter gap chan lae rak rao
For a new beginning, a new era, for you and me, and our love.

(Interlude)

ทุ่มเทเท่าไหร่มันก็ล้นเท่านั้น
toom tay tao-rai man gor lon tao nan
However much I lavish my love on you, it flows away out of your heart.

ไม่อาจสัมผัสเข้าถึงสักครั้ง
mai aat sam-pat kao teung sak krang
My love is unable to enter your heart.

ถึงจะได้เจอกับรักที่เธอเคยบอกฉัน
teung ja daai jer gap rak tee ter koie bok chan
Only then will I have your love.

เพื่อการเริ่มใหม่ ครั้งใหม่ บอกหน่อย
peua gaan rerm-mai krang mai bok noi
For a new beginning, a new era, please tell me.

ฉันควรรอต่อไปไหม ต้องรอเธออีกนานไหม
chan kuan ror dtor bpai mai dtong ror ter eek naan mai
Should I continue to wait for you? Must I wait for a long time?

ถึงจะได้เจอกับรักที่เธอเคยบอกฉัน
teung ja daai jer gap rak tee ter koie bok chan
Only then will I have your love.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

btw, i DID not translate this song. I'm not tt shen!!
For more thai music.. refer to the top ten Thai Songs.
http://www.ethaimusic.com/top10.php

Indonesia...truely Asia...

2006-04-25T10:51:00.000+08:00

Protest at the city centre. PLAYBOY!!

A night view from the 9th storey of the apt.
-----------------------------------------------

I din quite realise how long I had been away from home till I talked to the driver, Antos today during dinner. 3 mths in jkt, 5 mths in bkk, now in jkt. I had missed a lot in SG, similarly, I had gained a lot in bkk and jkt.

Sri had abandon me and I am now all alone in jkt, kelapa gading. It’s a Chinese dominated town abt 30min drive from the city centre (w/o jam) and abt 30 min from Sukarto International Airport (take the toll and keluar at Cempeka Mas). Taking the city centre as the centre, airport is to the west, KG is to the south.

It is not that bad being alone. I’m quite used to it by now. Watching tv on JakTV, its some really really old American movie, doing laundry (socks only, in jkt, the best thing is that they go by weight vs per piece – around IND 25k per 5kg), snacking, reading, bogging (on MS Word 1^st then upload in office – downside is that there is no internet access in the apt), watching soccer (there’s free EPL, Spanish League on weekends).

Let me recall the week… I touched down in jkt after a 3hr flight from bkk. As another colleague was departing to SG, so I had to wait at the Macs for Sri to pick me up. How the exchange rate had dropped. It was about IND 6000 to SGD 1 back in Oct 2005 (unstable times then) and its around IND 5400 to SGD 1 now.

Not much had changed in Indo office except that there was a big flood a few weeks back the whole electrical system had gone haywire. The flood started from the roof and it seemed as if there was a waterfall inside the office! Now some of the rooms dun have lights and seems like there are more frequent trippings. Well, not to mention the unstable internet connection.

I am left alone this weekend in Indonesia with my very limited bahasa Indonesia (I think I have more vocab for thai than for bahasa!). After sending sri off, I waited at the airport to pick up a client. As we had 2 hrs, the driver and I decided to go and makan. KFC breakfast. 1 packit of Nasi + 1 ayam goreng + 1 pepsi. 2 sets for abt IND 40k. picked up my client and we are off to the city centre. Best.. there was a protest. Anyone read about there is a publication of “PLAYBOY” in Indonesia? I must get my hands on 1 of them – even though there’s no nudity! The protest wasn’t tt big (compare to the 1 at bkk), but it still caused a jam. Luckily it was a peaceful 1.

My first meal that day was thankfully settled by going to Perkasi, a town on edges, to the north of jkt city). A colleague had decided to take me to another colleague’s house by bike ( abt 40 min by bike w/o jam, and >1 hr by car). It was my first time taking a bike in jkt. Although I had taken it umpteen times in bkk, the conditions are much different. 1^st, the air STINKS here. 2^nd the road is extremely bumpy. There was absolutely absence of any kind of maintenance. I was nearly flinked out of the bike twice when my colleague negotiated a dent in the roads. There was even a mini pond in the middle of the road that every vehicle just slowed down and drive beside it. Imagine the jam that it caused!! U cannot for 1 second let your mind wonder. Even as a pillion, you have to be paying attention!!!

Finally got to my colleague’s house. The place is abt 200 sqm, with a garden in front. The couple had taken up growing flowers (horticulture?) and plants. It’s a single storey house for a family of 5, with a porch where they like to sit outside and play music (much like our malay friends gathering at void decks – the Indonesians likes to gather to play music and chat, like at our offices and along the streets that we passed by), and a tv room. Din do much there, just had dinner, played carom, watched soccer and it was another long ride home.

Remember to ask for the rules when playing carom in IND. The rules are VERY DIFFERRENT. 1^st, the strike is much smaller, and the seeds are much lighter (equipment may vary at where u go). To start the game, you are not allow to directly hit at the seeds until u confirm. That means that to confirm, you will have to hit the seed in indirectly, else it will be -1. I started my game with -3. During the game, you are allowed to hit your seeds directly, but u can only indirectly hit your opponents seeds, else its another demerit point. To end the game, the red seed will have to be pocketed indirectly too. And the last seed has to be pocketed indirectly, else it’s a penalty. I ended the game with 1 seed. But my colleague pang jang a bit, he had abt 7 fouls in all, and in all he pocketed abt 5 seeds more than I did…

Comes Sunday. A day when I am really alone. Woke up late at 1pm, washed up and decided to look for food. I rem there was a nasi padang near the apt. darn, its abt 15 min walk and when I got there, it was closed!! I had to walk another 15 min before reaching another shop that seemed decent enough. Had Mie Ayam and packet 1 x Nasi goring for dinner. I am too lazy to walk out again. Finished the rest of S3 of 24 before I rotted in front of the tv. Gosh.. S3 of 24 is really complicated….

Monday. Had to jalan to office with my backpack. Haha.. luckily I had changed my Acer bag to this new laptop backpack. Nothing much in office today as most of the engineers had went to site. Dinner was the highlight of the day.

Had dinner with our company driver today. Its madness trying to drive here. U must be very skilful. Unfortunately, I am not. The bumpy roads. 2 lanes become 3 lanes of traffic. Motorbikes cutting lanes. Big trucks refusing to give way. Road partitions in the middle of nowhere, traffic rules that only the polisi understood. Anyways I got quite bored with food courts, malls, Chinese restaurants, Batavia (btw Batavia is the ancient name of Indonesia), so I asked him to bring me elsewhere.

He brought me to a roadside shed. I was a little apprehensive. But at least the place looked clean and there was no stench. Ayam goreng + es the manis (ice tea sugar). Similar to Thailand, the food was served with raw vegetables and chilli. There was mint, cucumbers and cabbage. There’s only 1 type of chilli, similar to the ls in nasi lemak in SG with lime, while in Thailand, there’s quite a no of different chilli that they will serve with. The method of eating is the same, pluck the leave, roll it up, dip in chilli and pop them into your mouth. =) I’m quite used to eating raw vegetables now except for the long beans (in Thailand, served cold), it tastes really too raw – but if you to mix it with too much chilli, it will be to spicy, especially the thai small red/green chilli, which can be really tongue biting. The meal cost just IND 16k for 2 persons. a bowl or noodles will cost abt 15k in a food court. TOOP! CHEAP! I dunno how to say cheap in Indonesia, coz u can hardly use it hahaha…

No stomachache so far… =)

Chiang Mai - Songkran Day 3

2006-04-19T19:12:00.000+08:00

Argh.. it’s a Saturday and my HP alarm don’t ring on weekends!!! Had to pack all my stuffs get ready by 830 as I am checking out and then going for the 1 day trekking that the Brits had gone yesterday. When I got back to Bkk, I realized I had left my Fila white polo tee and my water bottle in the hotel! =(

When I checked out, I was told that my laundry wasn’t ready. They had said that they will get it done by yesterday… so they arranged for someone to send them to me at the train station. Hmmm… anyways, I did get my laundry in the end. The guy tt picked me up in the morning, delivered them to the train station.

I got a better deal this time with some bargaining. They only charged me a 100 for transport. The guy tt picked me up is an Angku. His dad is Thai while his mum is from the Angku tribe (if I hadn’t rem wrongly).

I was first arranged to take the transport with this group of Asians and 1 ang mo. But I later realized they were actually from America. There were 4 of them. There was 1 ex-marine and the other 3 asians were born in Cambodia and later migrated to America when they were young. Its like coming back to find your roots… for Singaporeans, there’s hardly any history tt we can talk about nor any heritage or roots tt we can trace. Please enlighten me.

Later, the tour guide arranged for me to joined another group. There were 2 Hong Kongers, 1 Romanian girl (who later shares the elephant ride with me), 1 Australian man who loves photography and collecting stones, and another pair of Australians who are staying in Msia. It’s a more complex group this time, in terms of their nationality and which country they are living in.

The activities for today are: River Rafting (abt an hr), elephant riding (abt an hr), trekking to a waterfall (abt 1 hr + 1 hr at the waterfall to swim).

At the river rafting, I met this Indian, who talked like a Singaporean. He turned out to be a Msian living in Pattaya and he had a Chinese gf. See another relocated couple… So it’s the 3 of us + the boatman to steer the bamboo raft down the river. The river was mostly ankle height, the highest being only knee high. It wasn’t challenging nor exciting as the speed of the raft was rather slow. I guess tt has to do with safety and being slow means tt it can cater to a wider range of travelers and maybe it also has to do with the slow and laid back way of life of the thais. Its still SongKran still there was plenty of splashing as we idled down the river.

Din want my new camera to get wet so i din take any photos during the rafting.. =(
I need a waterproof casing for my cam!

The elephant ride was the more exciting 1. Somehow the guide got off our elephant and we were the only ones without a guide on the elephant!!! It was quite funny coz our elephant is REALLY REALLY greedy. He took 2 steps and up came his trunk, demanding some treats (banana or sugar cane tt we bought) before he decides to move again. Argh… we decided to gather some leaves in case we ran out of bananas, but this elephant is really smart, he refuses to take the leaves and will only move with bananas. You can’t be too nice to him, tt’s wat we realized. Coz after we ran out of treats, he will still carry on moving, else the guide will whip him with a stick. Well.. I won’t say its very cruel, coz the guide din use excessive force and the elephants skin is very thick anyways. He just needs some sort of nudging to get him moving.

He does not understand thai. He does not respond to “Bpai” which means move in thai, but the word “ke ai”. Maybe its some tribal word… Well anyways the fun part was when we were walking down the river with the elephants. I think they knew it was Songkran too!!!

Together with a Romanian friend on an elephant. Ours is a really really greedy elephant!!!

I'm the elephant handler!! =)

Since there wasn’t a guide on the elephant, I had the chance to rider the elephant on its neck. (we were strapped to the seat on the elephant’s back initially). It felt kinda weird as there were 2 big bones sticking out from its neck that whenever he moves, the bones will be moving too, so it seem I was seating on a massive massage chair. I had balance a little as the elephant movement seems to be swaying from side to side. Also the ears kept on flapping (I think it was to keep cool), so my dangling legs were constantly being flapped by the elephant’s ears… its kinda smelly.. I dunno why.

Corpse at the river.....

Taking the plunge!!!

After tt we had lunch. A guy decided to share his rice wine with us, which tasted pretty much like the strawberry wine and lychee wine at Doi Inthanon.

Trekking is next. It was really hot and we had to climb up abt 200 metres up the hill. But wat greeted us at the end of the trek was really wonderful. A cooling waterfall!!! I got into my trunks and shorts and dived in. Some guy earlier on had decided to climb up the sides and plunge down instead… nah.. too dangerous. All I did was to swim behind the water fall. Though the waterfall is only like 10 metres high, it was really powerful and the only way to get behind it , was to swim beside it and crawl on the rocks beside it. Halfway inside, I got washed out… haha.. it was like taking a slide inside the waterfall…

Smoking opium... mmmm... its actually tamarine...

That pretty much ends the day… the tour guide sent me to Chiang Mai Sa Ta Ne Rot Fa, and I am on my way back to Bkk… I think I will be coming back during winter =)

Bugs and Bees

2006-04-16T18:14:00.000+08:00

A newfound favourite hangout in Bkk. A 4 storey stall coffee house with great food, drinks and FREE WIRELESS INTERNET!! =) Like all coffee house should be. But you won't find that in SG. Oh, there's comfortable seats and soft music (english jazz or romantic love songs).
For those visiting or working in Bkk, do remember to check out this place that is strategically located beside Sala Daeng BTS, near Baskin Robins (oooo.. another favourite).
After i had my drink, the waiter automatically replaced it with a glass of ice water. Now.. that's service. =)

Chiang Mai - Songkran Day 2

2006-04-16T17:39:00.000+08:00

Started the day at 0730 today. Today, I will be going for a 1 day tour to Doi Inthanon, the highest peak of Thailand.

Had ABF today at the hotel. Overheard some British saying that he is also going for a tour today, so I decided to sit down to have breakfast with he and his friends – Danny, George and Ken. They were going for the 1 day Trekking tour, which I signed up for it during the 3^rd day. They paid only 700 each, at a shop at the night bazaar, with free transport back to and fro the hotel. Gosh.. I had paid 1000+350 for 1 way transport. =( oh well.. when you are traveling alone there is little bargaining power. These guys been to Cambodia and Laos and have seen the Angkor Palace. Perhaps my next destination?

Then it came to a discussion about what do we want for a holiday? IMHO, I split the time that I spent overseas during my free time into the following categories. Holidaying, touring and exploration.

Holidaying will be a relaxing trip. More like a beach setting or a luxury hotel where I will laze by the beach or have a spa, massage etc. Basically it will be a laid back trip with no fuss and simply idling the time away.

Touring, that will be like going for tour packages thingy. “Touch and go”. You might get to see a lot, but its basically you will just visit a certain place, know a little and then u carry on to another location. I hate these type of package, where there are so much restriction and so little free time.

Exploration. My favourite type of holiday. That will include doing a lot of homework before visiting a place. You read up about the location, the people, the places, and decide on where to go and what to do. Read “Lonely Planet”. Get some maps and start walking.

Anyways, my transport came and he took me to a petrol kiosk to rendezvous with the rest. There were 2 New Zealanders (Jenny and Henry, who sat beside me in the van), 2 Israelis, 2 Australians, 1 French with a Thai girl and the Thai Guide, Lee. Everyone came as a couple, except me. Nevertheless, the group is very inviting and I had the most interesting chat with Henry. Perhaps I will visit them at Mapir next time. =)

The ride took about 2 hours, which is pretty boring, except for the occasional attacks from the road sides. Lee gave us a history lesson on Doi Inthanon, which I had mentioned earlier on. Read the website for more info. I guess history can only be interesting if you are going to visit the place.

The 1^st stop is Mae Ya Waterfall. There was nothing much there and the tour guide refused to let us go into the water.

New friends from NZ.

A Sutpa, different from a pagoda. This is for people like warriors, while pagodas are for people with royal or holy status.

Twin Pagodas.

The second stop is the Twin Pagoda. This place was initially built for King Rama 9 and his queen. But as he felt that it is best shared with the people of Thailand, so he opened it up for everyone. Imagine in China, the emperor will only think about his own pleasure.

Inside each pagoda is a statue o the Buddha. 1 pagoda is taller than the other by 5 meters as the King is older than the queen by 5 years. The place is very well maintained and with many flowers, although we were told that the best time to come is during winter (Nov to Feb).

The highest point is at 2585.33 meters above sea level. hmm how high is Bukit Timah hill??

My dinner... Ka Pou + Kai Daeow + Pepsi.

They are everywhere!?!??! I got wet again. But luckily i was more prepared this time =)

The day ended with a visit to another waterfall and a hill tribe village. Nothing much and its quite boring.

Lee dropped me off at city square where I started exploring on my own. Darn, it was 5pm and the water action is still going on. No matter how I try to siam, there’s always another water hose just around the corner. I walked into the street where I went yesterday, where all the action took place. It was still the same sight with water splashing everywhere. I wonder how come they don’t get bored of it.

Just outside the city gate is another night bazaar with temporary shops set up. It’s the usual night bazaar stuffs so I basically just ate some foods and went back to the hotel. At least this time the tuk tuk driver followed my instructions and took the road along the Mae Ping, therefore we din get lost. =)

Oh did I mentioned that during lunch, no body believed that I am 26?? They all thought I was like 19!! HAHAHA… they said I had a child-like look. Hmm.. not surprising coz I rem bumping into a primary school friend in NTu whom I hadn’t seen in 14 years and she could recognize me. Well rem my tips for staying young.. they helps, of coz rem to use some anti-aging cream, blah blah…

Chiang Mai - Songkran Day 1

2006-04-16T13:26:00.000+08:00

Off to Chiang Mai on 12/04.06 alone! This is gonna be a much longer blog as I had taken my lappie as a companion. =)

Taking the North Line train which is departing at Hualumpong at 1745. Today, the train station is MUCH MORE packed than usual, as Songkron, or the Thai New Year is just round the corner. Like the Chinese, they r welcoming the year of the Dog, but the way of celebration is slightly different. That’s when many places in Thailand will get especially wet.

Songkron, also know as 泼水节，falls on every 13^th of April. The name itself means Pisces meeting Aries. It is the way the Thai’s celebrate the New Year. The idea of splashing water on each other is a way of “cleansing” one self from the past year of misdeeds. Traditional, the water is mix with flowers to give it a really fragrant scent and trickled by the elders to forgive the young ones from the wrong doings they had in the past year. But this tradition has evolved into a more “sanuk (fun in thai)” way with water guns, water hoses, basins, scoops.. basically anything tt can hold and throw water. This has become a Nation way of cooling down in the hot summer, as well as 3 days of pure fun – with splashing water at strangers or even passer-bys, to drinking and dancing in the streets, TOTALLY wet. Imagine a beach party or foam party, but it is held in major streets, in broad day light, with everyone armed with some sort of water gun.

Here’s the details of the trip… As usual, the train arrives later (abt 2 hrs late). I am quite prepared after the 1^st time to Koh Samui. The train is slightly different from the 1^st, as now there are 4 beds in 1 room (abt the size of the rooms in 1^st Class cabin but with 4 beds instead of 2) as compared to having 2 rows of beds in 1 cabin. I was pretty lucky as someone wanted to exchange seats with me, so now I can have the lower bunk (with window view). Luckily, my new bunk mates speak English as the all uni graduates. As this trip was rather rush, I only had a few days to plan it. With their help, I managed to get some more info abt the locations (on line maps only tell so much) on the places to visit.

Some fruit tt looked like grapes. But tasted rather dry.

Awaiting outside the train station are the tuk tuks. I was rather apprehensive abt these tuk tuks tt wait outside tourist spots. Anyways there were no other transport available. With my limited thai, I managed to tell the driver to take me to my 1^st destination, Microlight Fly. Microlight is a basically just a hang glider attached with a motor at the rear and 2 seats.

The view up at 1000 feet is AMAZING! It’s the BEST way to have really good view of Chiang Mai. The pilot has many years of experience. He had been flying in France for abt 9 years b4 coming back to Thailand to setup this place. It is a little bumpier during summer as there are more unpredictable winds. But anyways, the view is breathtaking and very safe. “It is not a way to get rich. But I love flying.” The pilot words as he tells me abt his flying experience. Btw, it cost THB 1700 for 15 min and THB 2900 for 30 min.

The tuk tuk driver is call “ooy”or “oil”. A really nice guy as the prices he charges is very reasonable. After the ride, he decided to take me to different museums to take a look.

Unfortunately, when we got there, all of them are closed for 3 days. Darn!!! Think I had been traveling in the tuk tuk for abt an hour before he took me to the hotel. RiverView Point. Songkran has already started and he had prepared me well with a few nos of plastic bags. Nevertheless, I still got quite wet as the tuk tuk offers very little protection from the road side water terrorists.

Unfortunately again, it was the wrong place. He took me to Riverview Lodge. !!! Well, he din demand any money, so I just paid him 500 baht. Luckily the lady at LODGE managed to get POINT to come and pick me.

“Joe”, picked me up after abt 30 min wait. Its really weird at the restaurant in LODGE, coz they REFUSED to serve me any food!! It is only for hotel guests!! Gosh! I wanna pay but they WILL NOT serve!!! Oh well. Located outside the city, on the north part of Chiang Mai towards Mae Rim, is RV Point. Strategically located beside Mae Ping (the main river tt runs besides the city centre) and the new Super Highway, the place looks rather pleasant The rooms are amazing!! For 1300 a nite. But for people w/o their own transport, I will recommend tt they stay inside the town. Coz a few tuk tuks got lost getting here and the charges is 200 baht.

“Pat”, the hotel manager got me some hotel info before introducing me to some day tours tt I can take. THB 3000. hmm.. the brochure advertisement is only 1000. There was something else tt is free. As some of the hotel staff is going to celebrate Songkran at the city centre, I am free to join them if I want. Why not? Celebrating Songkran the local way. =)

1 pickup, 2 barrels of water, 2 pails, 2 BIG cubes of ice, 6 scoops/buckets for each of us. Equipment Checked and Ready. Here we go… Oh, remember to waterproof EVERYTHING. Its really really wet out there.

Traveling along the narrow road with shophouses at the side, we are a constant target. Houses located beside the roads are armed with all sorts of weapons. It takes some skill and experience before u can actually hit someone with the scoop of water while on a moving vehicle. For those on the streets, its MUCH easier. All they had to do is to gauage where the vehicle is passing and spray in tt direction. The moving vehicle will ensure tt it hits us with a certain impact.

Beside these shophouses, there are also the moving convoy of water terrorists. They will strike u from the opposite direction or just drive past and attack you. The action only starts at the Old City area where the Old Walls were located. There is 2 stretch of roads being divided by a river.
There were tuk tuk (w/o covers so tt the passengers can join in the fun), people on bikes armed with water guns, pedestrians with water guns, many other pick-ups with the well armed army.

Our limited amount of ammo...

Particular favourites are katoeys, foreigners and girls. They especially like to make the water super cold and then pour it on girls. U know the effect. =) But its all in the fun of it. Everyone enjoys it and no one turns angry. Even unexpecting riders who r just being splashed on as the pick-up passes them. There was this group of katoeys who had gathered in a pick-up. They were dancing and drinking and just blasting music. Its like a massive parade w/o any control, all in the name of SANUK!

Where all the action is...

After 2 hours of water fight, I got back to the hotel and changed b4 heading back to town to the night bazaar. Well after shopping so much in BKK, there is nothing much to look out for, except for some local delicacies such as dried longan, strawberries, fruit wine etc. What caught my attention was the Black and White portraits tt were hand-drawn. Its amazing at how they make the picture look so 3D.

Got an unexpected call from Hooey tonight. Someone had pickpocket her Nokia 3230. ARGH… it was a present. =( Well, she had left it in her backpack and someone had opened the zip and stolen it. So everyone, please BEWARE!!! So sorry to hear tt.. =(

Anyways the tuk tuk got lost and I ended up taking 40 min to get back to hotel… It was a short but enjoyable day. It was really fun and a good experience to be able to celebrate the Thai’s festival much like any other thais. =)

Job

2006-04-12T11:28:00.000+08:00

Career Inventory Test Results

Extroversion	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	23%
Emotional Stability	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	70%
Orderliness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	66%
Altruism	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	60%
Inquisitiveness	\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|\|	56%

You are a Guide, possible professions include - career counselor, psychologist, educational consultant, special education teacher, librarian, artist, playwright, novelist/poet, editor/art director, information-graphics, designer, HRM manager, merchandise planner, environmental lawyer, marketer, job analyst, mental health counselor, dietitian/nutritionist, research, educational consultant, architects, interpreter/translator.

Take Free Career Test
personality tests by similarminds.com

Its Going to be a Beautiful day...

2006-04-12T10:56:00.000+08:00

I got out of apartment today, feeling a little shitty, but a song always keeps me going. If u had been watching ESPN, the Toyota advertisement will hum the tune, "Its gonna be a beautiful day, a beautiful day..." and the song goes... but the advertisement is no longer showing. Perhaps i can hum u the tune next time to help you begin the day with a +ve start. =)

Have already sent out the proposals, which is a much relieve. Now as i will be going to JKT, gonna have to let the rest handle the following up. When it comes to management, when is too much micro management? Got to learn to let go. =)

Walked out of apartment today. Its like any ordinary day. Except there was this bunch of ladies walking out of their car. Usually people are meet are a lone guy with his bag to school or office. But mostly it is the maid cleaning the garden downstairs.I rem last evening when i was walking back, i remembered the face of the motorcyc's who took me tt day. Today, there was another 1, but also a familar face. A very personalised service, whereby he sees me, he starts moving to his bike and takes me to Empire Tower. All tt i said to him was, "Good morning".

Paid my usual 20 baht and went to the street in front of the building to search for my breakfast. It is usally siew mai or hot pancakes or bread with jam. But the latter 2 don't always appear. I dun like fried stuffs in the morning, except for you tiao and soya bean (costs like 30 baht for 1 soya bean and 4 small sticks of YT). So its bread at Empire Tower, which costs a little bit more.

Walked into the lift and others hurried inside too. Usually i will ask the people behind me which floor they wanna go, but nopes i don't when i am in thailand, coz i tried and they gave a funny face hahhaaha... I look too Thai to be speaking English.

Another day at work... less hectic today with the holidays coming =)

Happy Meal

2006-04-04T00:57:00.000+08:00

Worked til 9pm today... its the 1st time i stayed back in Thai office to complete some stuffs that I** wants.. A**.. want so many things but no results...
It was dark when i walked out of the building. I think Thais dun have a habit of working late. I din see anyone left the building except me...
I stood looking out onto the main road.. hmm.. Macs. its nearby, fast and i can just take a cab back after tt.
Ordered an adult Happy Meal, Double Cheese Burger Set. THB 95. Not such a happy meal when 1 is alone... watching families coming in. Friends gathering. Couples eating...
MUNCH... I am just too hungry to think too much.. its just another meal...

oh... Thaksin won the elections... no prize for guessing it right. Haha...
Mix emotions between the fragile democracy in Thailand.
Oh.. i got SGD 700 for the Progressive shares.. have u checked how much you got?

The last days together.....

2006-03-28T22:51:00.000+08:00

The last of the photos for the trip...

Beautiful run rise by Chaweng
I took a run too.. but tt's not me haha.. i was uip much EARLIER,,,

Our little cottage.. THB 1500 a nite
ABF

Hahaha.. I had accidentally left this bag at the fery booking outlet. And it was still there after 3 days.. the staff had left it at a corner and sharped eye hooey spotted our Lost and Found Bag. =)

Onboard a song tel with a couple of ang mos... they have been travelling for 6.... MONTHS!

Byebye,,,
Surat Thani train station

well.. the schedule is not really ttt accurate.. =(

Foood.. massage... and food... tt's thailand.

ThAnks T

2006-03-27T04:56:00.000+08:00

A somewhat simply MSN conversation prompted to write this entry..

Knowing that a friend had just did Laser Treatment (Lasec) to his eyes, to show my concern...
Me: "How's your eye"
T: "Very very clear"
T:"now i'm better than u... cos u got night blindness"
Me: "rite..."
T: "Haha"
Me: "Thx"
A rather shocking reply... very insensitive. ThAnks T again for his reply. Else I would never bother to write this entry. Maybe he had meant as a joke.
At tt instance, I was angry... I wished I could ripped his eyes out and play ping pong with them.. tt's rather childish. Its more useful to donate them to some blind fellow who appreciates them more. Well... I ain't angry abt it anymore. Just disappointed at how insensitive a "friend" actually is. Frankly, I can't be bothered. Its too trival. Some might say.. if its too trival, y even blog it? It just tt this incident just promopted me to think even more of other things...
Many a times, I have this thinking.. "People come, People go..." How many people do u still keep in contact with? They come and go... He's just another friend, another person in my life whom isn't someone i'm gonna be building a long lasting r/s with anyways. Building long lasting r/s is never my forte. Anyways I guessed he had just said it w/o thinking... Like eating eggtarts, eat and forget.. HAHA

Had our quest for perfection made us less perfect? Had we reached a stage tt perfection is the only answer when clearly the world is always less than perfect? Can we perfect the art of perfection?

It seems that he can see better now. He is more perfect now for he doesn't need specs. But he dun see that many others are still wearing specs. There are also people who are blind. You may be better now, but at least I can see clearer than u. U had been blurred by perfection.

Yes, i have a problem with seeing in the dark. I need more light than most other people. It was something tt I had a hard time coming to accept as I had PERFET eyesight for the past 20+ yrs of my life. Things change and how do we deal with them? We hide? We runaway? We choose to ignore it, thinking tt it will all just go away? Is that how we deal with a problem? That WAS me... A LDR problem. A less than perfect eyesight problem. Things tt i never come to terms with. I believed they could be settled easily. But in reality, the problem dun just lies with me, the people around me had to deal with it too. I can solve my own problem, but how to others see my problem, that's the bigger problem. I am coming to terms with them...
Oh, btw, that day at Zouk, the lady had bumped into the drinks herself. I hadn't bumped into her, in case u think i din see her or something. She was a drunk anyways and crazy.

I just see that this is a rather same issue. I was watching NGC (yes... National Geographic Channel again..) and HBO. There seems to be a lot of programmes abt gays, tranvestities, Transexuals or what is know in Thai as "Katoeys" or "2nd grade woman".

On NGC, there was this program tt featured a enunch from India who turned politician, a kotoey boxer who gained the respect of many when she wins in a Mui Tai competition, a Hijra who castrate himself for religion reasons.
On HBO, a movie abt this man who was married for 20+ yrs with a kid, decides to become a woman for he had always felt tt he was 1. A funny movie abt 2 girls acting as transvestities and mixing with a grp of real tranvestities.
I rem watching a programme by "Get Real" abt the transvestites in SG, interviewing a few people with different education background.

Look at how society perceive these people. We take a 2nd look at them. In India, eunuchs were once worshipped, much like the eunuchs in older Chinese days, where they reign control and power in the imperial courts. Now, eunuchs are considered to be either prostitues or beggers. In Thailand, it was more forgiving for most Thais being buddhist, believed that it was heaven'swill that they were born like this, and not by their own will. Instead of despising them, they shld be receiving help for they are being punished by the heavens. In the HBO movie, it was saddening how the family had to deal with the shame and pain because of 1 man's decision to be a woman. How tolerant is our society to less than perfet people?

Well.. lastly, I will want to dedicate this blog to my young cousin who's fighting cancer. Fight, for the inner strength within you is stronger than anything else in this world.Don't ever give up...

Butterfly

2006-03-25T13:12:00.000+08:00

I had a funny dream last night. It was set in an examination hall in my old primary school, Fairfield Methodist Pri Sch. I was taking a chinese exam paper. Although in pri sch, exams were conducted in the classrooms, this paper was conducted in hall with every other students from the same level. Gosh.. it was a really tough exam paper and I had problems answering the questions. It seemed as if i had never taken a chinese paper or i hadn't prepared for it at all.
Half way through the paper, a butterfly flew in. It was black with blue patterns on it. Everyone was quite startled by it as it seemed injured. It flew around the hall before landing on the ground, trying desperately to flap its wings to lift off. But to no avail. All the kids were screaming, but somehow, I was rather calm. I took out a plastic bag and scooped the butterfly off from the ground. I requested from the examiner to let me out of the exam hall so that i can release the butterfly.
I can remember my school pretty well. I remember seeing the corridors that i used to run around. The staircases that seemed endlessly high. I went pass the porch, past the office, into the sheltered walkway beside the vollyball court where we used to play frisbee. Here I opened the bag and the butterfly flapped its wings and took flight. I was amazed that the butterfly could actually fly.
I got back to the exam hall and the examiner gave me an extra 20min to do the paper. But it was weird as I had completed less than half the paper!! And there was still the comprehension passage passage to complete! OH NO!! Somewhere in the paper i rem seeing a 72 or 76 in red mark. Got to buy 4D liaoz. =)
I dunno the final result for that paper. But i rem the times in pri schoo. How carefree we were...

Are U the butterfly?

day 3

2006-03-21T22:28:00.000+08:00

The much awaited pictures from Day3...

Day 3 was spent in a new hotel in Chaweng Beach, the most popular beach in Samui. With the coast facing the South China Seas, the waves were very big compared to Bo Bphut.

The day was spent swimming in sea with us desperately trying to use the wakeboards. Lazing on the beach is the top agenda, tt explains the "chao da-ness".

A Night view of Chaweng Beach.

Travelling Buddy

SEAFOOD CHOOSING... =) Goong, Bpoo and Hoi.
The leftovers. We were too hungry =)

The best seafood place in Samui. Too bad we only saw it after we ate. Its a really atmosphere here. Just walk down the beach and ask arnd for the BEST. Cannot rem the name of the pkace,

Books and Coffee. Good Combi.
U can find everything here in Samui. There's Hagen Daaz. =)

Oh Oh.. Silom is in trouble

2006-03-21T22:15:00.000+08:00

Pictures taken from Empire Tower. Anti Thaksin protesters (reported 5000 people) moving from from Narathiwat Road turning into Sathorn Road where the Singapore Embassy is located.

Tips to Longer Life from NGC

2006-03-19T21:59:00.000+08:00

My favourite channel these days. National Geographic Channel.

Tips to living a longer life.
1. Eat smaller portion.
2. Have kids later in life.
3. Be mentally active.
4. Exercise regularly. (They mention sex in particular)
5. Eat foods with anti-oxidants. (Red Wine, chocolates, Omega-8 rich foods. It helps reduces depression. 2 of my fav r in the list)

He-She or She-He

2006-03-17T12:36:00.000+08:00

Conducted some interviews today to recruit new engineers to the company. There was this particular person that caught my attention.
A post of Service Engineer.. (Hooey has a blog entry dedicated to Engineers). u'll expect only males to apply. I was reading this application, the photo showed a person with a crew cut and appears to be a guy, but the name is "Miss". No indication of gender. So it sparked off a series of discussion. Is she a tomboy or is he a lady-boy. Well, the latter is more common in thailand. Her experience and academic performances definitely fits the bill, so we asked her down for an interview. It is also impossible to determine whether if its a he or she over the phone. gosh... Anyways, we have to give another potential candidate a chance and not show gender discrimination.
Unexpected, she came dressed in a shirt and jeans with a crew hair cut. A firm handshake to greet us. Its the 1st firm handshake i received so far from any candidates, YES.. the male candidates just give a soft handshake. Her experience is most relevant. Her GP is also much higher than most candidates. She also had the nicest handwriting. Can't blame them as writing in thai is really different from writing roman characters. At the end of the day, she also tidied up some of the drawings tt we had showed her before leaving. Really a responsible and impressive girl.
I wonder how she survive in a male dominate environment. Frankly, i can hardly tell that she is a female, except for her slightly softer voice, which is normal for guys here anyways. Well.. in terms of qualification and experience, she definitely fits the bill. But is she able to fit in with the rest of the engineers? In a bigger company she was working in, she was in charge of a grp of engineers (guys i presume). I admire her for i think she must be able to gain their respect in order for her to work.
Well.. if she wasn't chosen bcoz we felt that she wont fit in with the rest, bcoz of her gender, is it consider gender discrimination? I've read news abt companies being sued bcoz of this.
Anyways... there's always more than 1 ways to reject someone. =)

Good or Evil??

2006-03-10T00:09:00.000+08:00

Is your site good or bad?? Evaluate for yourself to see..
http://homokaasu.org/gematriculator/rate.gas

For you...
Value of word "hooey"833 833=7x7x17 8+3+3=14=7x2

Day 2 in Samui

2006-03-08T14:19:00.000+08:00

Finally uploaded the pics tt i wanna share...
Day 2 in Samui. Wasted .. call it an experience.. on travelling. Today we visited the Big Buddha, walking along Bo Bphut and Big Buddha beach to complete our "pilgrimage". Then we are off to Chwaeng beach, the most popular beach in Samui, where all the shops r, to look for accommodation for our third nite. We wanted a quiet getaway, so we chose Bo Bphut. But travelling there is a little more expensive as most taxi or song tael will charge more. sianz.. Else rent a bike (dun try if u r a BEGINNER), or a jeep. =)

Hooey and Ruffy was here!

Our dream hotels. Some are actually private property. Well there were some arguements that tourism had spoilt the natural beauty of Samui. Which is quite true, everywhere u go, u see construction going on. Its a sad sight, but tt's the price to pay. If u r a tourist, u r already guilty of it. So please take care of the environment, respect the locals. Localize...

Reach for the sea...

Our American Breakfast. Most hotels/resorts comes with it. yummmzzz...

Peanuts anyone??

A view from Big Buddha

My Trusted Sierra Backpack who had travelled much with me. Song Tael anyone?

A busy Chawaeng Beach

I like this photo. =)

A cheap and simple lunch of Kao Phut + Cocomuts.

Spot the difference.
Back at our quiet hideaway at Bo Phut. I am at least 50m away from shore. Tt's how amazing the beach is here. Its at the north part of Samui, meaning its on the south of Pattaya. Meaning the beach is not facing the ocean, which equals to a calm beach. Very different from Chawaeng. Another of my swimming pool. There were even people fishing some 100m off the coast. They were not on boats, they can simply walk all the way out.
Question: What kind of person are you?? How far are u willing to walk out of the shore. Someone once said, u can never find new shore unless u lose sight of the land... Travel and see the world...

Remembering seeing this pic on some travel catalogue or brochure??

The coast.. i wanna retire at somewhere like this...

Some local kids playing by the beach...

Tea break

The huskie got a little too cold inthe antartica... Sun, sand and the sea.. come to samui

A view from the top of our hotel..

Forgot to bring our cameras when we had dinner... It was this cool place that serves Thai food with a very modern jazzy mood place. We played pool. Final score, 2-1 to Hooey. =(

Another day passes by... I wish time will stop.. no wonder those ang mos can stay here for mths...

Train Services in Bkk

2006-03-07T12:48:00.000+08:00

Wanna travel by train in Thailand? Refer to this website
http://www.seat61.com/Thailand.htm#Ko%20Samui

Anyone has any websites tt teaches u to take trains in other countries?
This is a really good website. =)

For those who love islands inThailands, refer to this website
http://www.sawadee-travel.com/

Hope it helps folks... =)

Bkk day 1

2006-03-06T22:43:00.000+08:00

This is the first part of the 8 day holiday tt hooey spent in Thailand. Note, Thailand, and not BKK. 8 days.. NEVER enuff.. part I of the trip is Koh Samui. We love the place so much tt we decided to spend another nite. Can't beat those Farangs tt can stay here for mths!! We met this Canadian lady that spends every yr here during the winter break. We met this grp of backpackers who had been travelling for 6 mths!!! Lonely Asians in Koh Samui... Think few SG comes here. We were ALWAYS mistaken for Thai (well.. there's certain advantage in tt), sometimes Japanese?!??! and sometimes Koreans (r we tt fair??!) Excellent experience to travel by train.. if u have the time =)

Lilies for Hooey..

At Hua Lump Pong Train Station.. Look at all the backpackers and the sizes of their bags!

Zinger Burger.. SLURPS!

Sitting on the floor like the rest of the backpackers..

Berth 9. Our train. Easy to read tickets.

Where we stayed for the next 12 hours!!! and somemore...

Nopes.. he isn't jumping off the train... he's the man who makes the bed...

Snuggling in...

The morning sun rays pouring in thru the train's windows... =)

Opt for lower bunk if possible... darn!

The train...

The logo of Thaialnd Railway System

Ferry terminal, Surat Thani.

Our ferry.. There were only 2 pairs of asian. 1 MSIA couply, and 1 from SG. The rest are all ANG MOs!!! gosh... We really stick out

TOUCH DOWN SAMUI!!! After 12 hrs of train + 2 hrs of delay + 5 hrs of waiting + 3 hrs of ferry. Do your own maths

A well deserved dinner..

and a even more well deserving bedroom... This place is call Boat House Hotel. Its not by the beach but separated from the beach by a road and a restaurant. Nevertheless, the room is EXCELLENT and the view is good.. for the price tt is.. 1900 THB.

Bangkok Rock Fest 2006!!!

2006-02-19T22:24:00.000+08:00

OASIS ROCKS!!!
That's Liam Gallagher =)

My new toy

2006-02-13T10:42:00.000+08:00

Koh Chang

2006-02-13T09:55:00.000+08:00

The trip to koh chang takes abt 6 hrs for bus (with like 4 breaks of 20min) + 15 min of boat ride. The whole trip with the locals. THB 2500!! really cheap. kinda short though, 2 days 1 nite.

Our transport to the docks

The ferry.
Koh Chang Island.
My swimming pool.

Where's hooey?
Its amazing swimming here in the morning when the waters are still

Fom front to back: My colleague's wife, me and the auntie who cooks near my work place, Pook or Poke (her nickname, all thais have nick names).
The rest of the pple working at the shop.. Don't be surprise, but they brought teddy bears and pillows for the trip (get wat i mean???)
This is where i stay. =)

Another view...lovely sand...

watching the waves slowly coming in...
This is REALLY where i stayed..

My colleague, Kon Kit.

My desktop

Its interesting knowing thai people. How friendly and acoomodating they are. Despite a difference in language and culture, i had a good time there. Can't really say i enjoyed myself, coz i can't fully click with them. I'll visit there again, if i go diving.. its more of a diver's place. =)

MOS - SG

2006-01-18T02:15:00.000+08:00

MOS lighting.. kewl.. anyone knows tt girl? =)

Our Monthly Pic.. for Dec
Me and Jessie..

A evening out with hostel friends... long time din go cheong liaoz.. thanks to Mojo for organising!!

Wat is on your desktop?

2006-01-18T01:59:00.000+08:00

What is on your desktop? Here's mine?
Its a pic taken at Koh Chang (blog will come later, as photos are not in yet)
the "Island of Elephant", south of Thailand. Sunset... low tide... Will change my background as and when... for now.. its scenery.

Back to my desktop. =)
It isn't cluttered with icons, I HATE that. I dunno y people wanna clutter their desktop with icons, i wonder how they can find wat they want??
But mine is cluttered with Post-It. My lappie, my companion, my friend. The 1 think that i can't do w/o while alone in thailand. My connection to the outside world. I can be rotting in my apt and nobody will know!!
Sadly, there's only yellow colour. Anyone has other colors?
SOme pple dun like to be reminded of the things that they have to do. SOme pple thinks that its ugly to have post-its everywhere.
I am more practical. A goldfish needs to be reminded of the things to do or to be done else he'll forget.

What's on your desktop?

A Healtgy Meal?

2006-01-08T14:09:00.000+08:00

Tired of soupy noodles and fried noodles, i made a healthy western meal. SANDWICH!

4 Slices of bread
2 pieces of ham
2 pieces of cheese
1 tomato
1 glass of milk
1 apple

A healthy meal??
Another meal...

Chatuchak

2006-01-08T01:23:00.000+08:00

Another Day in Bangkok...
Waking up, i was deciding whether to go ahead with my plan to go to Chatuchak. I'm really lazy. I woke up at 7.30am. Nah. its too early, so i went back to zzz.. finally woke up at 11am. Did the usually stuffs b4 getting into my singlet (its gonna be hot and stuffy in CTC).
Walked out and went to this noodle shop and ordered 'gui tiao', i think its called 'mee gou' meaning thick. Not bad... there's alot of food in the morning and afternoons. i wonder where did all the shops go at night.
I decide to take the "bus" today. Its actually a van that moves within the area picking up people. So i got on. The trick here is that, if you are tall, DUN move into the vehicle, coz the roof is rather low. I hit my head on the bell a few times on the trip!! So embarassing! Rem that when u alight, to pay 5 baht at the front.
Got to Surasak station and bought a monthly ticket. Mo Chit is my destination. The most north BTS station. On the train, came a grp of young girls. 1 of them is very pretty with a sharp nose and shoulder lengh hair tied in a bun. Haha.. too young though.
I figure will prob meet alot of SG pple today as many pple will make use of the Hari Raya holiday. Not tt difficult to spot SG pple. The way they speak, their dressing; guys in berms and sandles, girls in shorts and tee, dun really see alot of thais wearing specs. and there was this guy wearing NB shoes.. SAF.. HAHA.
Gosh... a hot day... i need to look for my favourite Ice shobert (i think its coconut milk flavour) + peanuts on the top. Excellent. Found the dog clothes and my sis's slippers. An old lady was selling the dog clothes and she speaks Teochew. Yeah.. manage to get a better discount. =)
Took a walk along Patpong after i alighted at ChongNonsi. damn, shld have alighted at SalaDeang, its nearer. The place din change much. I never like to buy things there, i prefer CTC or Suan Lum. The prices are more localised. They do quote the same price to locals and its really up to your bargaining skills to try to get a lower price. Which i think i suck at it. Just a few cents... wat is it with us. I mean it isn't easy making a living for them. But shopping is more fun with the bargaining rite?
Dinner was bought at a Chicken rice toad side stall. Kai mun Khao. Surviving in thailand. I will be having pasta and sandwiches for Sunday...

Zheng He

2005-12-11T21:45:00.000+08:00

A eunch tt had travelled around the world b4 anyone else in the world had. Without any cares or worries, without any emotional attachments. No family, no descendants, no future. Just the his present own life, to live life to the fullest? NGC... creating the desire to see the world...

Apartment or Home?

2005-12-11T00:01:00.000+08:00

I'll call this an apartment...

And this.. Home... =)

Maple House vs Ascott. Narathiswat Sol 10 vs Sathorn Rd. 75,000 thb vs 25,000 thb.
Hey Tat, guess where you'll be staying.. =)

Siam Paragon

2005-12-10T23:48:00.000+08:00

Siam Paragon. The gem of Shopping at Siam BTS. Will anyone still go to MBK??

Christmas Tree at Siam Paragon.

Visa Christmas tree at WTC.

A new shopping centre in Bangkok. Siam Paragon. ITS SO HUGE. I think its abt twice the size of Taka. The number of people is amazing!! People just flocking in from everywhere. Just when I tot there's no Xmas mood, suddenly, with the music and the crowd and the decorations, I suddenly felt a little of Xmas in Bkk.
I wonder who will go to MBK now?? Not forgetting there's also Siam Centre and Discovery Shopping Centre along the same stretch. I doubt i'll shop on the opposite street again. Expensive place though i think. But there's 10% discount. Good luck to all those coming b4 the 12th. =)

Met up with 2 friends this week. Both came to work for a short period in Bkk. On thurs, walked half of Suan Lum nite bazaar. Fri, walked from Pratunum to WTC then to MBK. Din shop alot at the shopping centres, but nevertheless, still a good shopping trip. Argh... i wish i am richer!!!

2005-12-10T23:36:00.001+08:00

2 spec-kies in Oct.

2 Stoners at 12am in Nov.

Kriss Lost

2005-12-07T00:00:00.000+08:00

Its my 3rd time on a SQ flight, but 1st with KrissWorld. I recall my 1st SQ was when i was like 5 yrs old, it was a short trip btw KL and SG. I love aeroplanes ever since, but too bad i can't pursue a flying career. 2nd time on a SQ was going to Kancharaburi, NS time. 3rd time, to BKK, alone for a biz trip.
oh... after taking SQ, y would anyone wanna take any other flights???
It was a rushing day. The day b4, i lost connection to the outside world when the internet at home had problems. Took me 2 hrs to try to resolve, but to no avail. I gave up, went to sleep and woke up at 3am to fix it. Voila! I wish the Singnet technicians can tell me something tt i dunno. HAHA. Anyways, woke up at 645, tushed to get ready to leave for the airport. As i dialled for a cab, i realise the no. won't connect. 65552222.
I finally got my cab and was on my way to the airport at 715am. Its a Red cab. 65552222, 1111 and 3333 belongs to the Red cabs. Note how similar they are to Citycab, whose no is 6552 2222, and for Comfort, it's 65512222. Gosh... the driver revealed to me the biz gimmick. Seems like many pple had accidentally called for Red Cabs instead. But the driver is friendly. I dun see any differences in the standards of the cabs, can't compare with jkt, bandung or bkk, the standards differs ALOT!
Suppose to check in at Belt 6, but as it was a full flight, i was directe to Belt 1 instead. The counter staff was really friendly. I asked if i can check in here, as this belt actually belongs to Silk Air going to jkt. I dun want my baggage to end up elsewhere. He assured me they can process me at this counter. Shiok. A MUCH SHORTER queue. I also found out tt u can check in your luggage 3 hrs or up to 6 days b4 the flight. Priority booking of seats!! I was rather surprised when i heard the 6 days allowance.
The only "suai" thing tt happened at the airport was tt the plane is all the way at Belt 28. RIGHT AT THE END of T2!! Did the usual thing to drawing last min cash from the ATM b4 making my way to the plane. Just in time to board at 8.20.
Sianz.. no window seats, so i had to settle for a isle seat, beats seating int he center. As the plane took off, i realise how neat, clean and comfortable the whole cabin looks, as oppose to GA or TG. Hooey always flips the KrissShop, which i did too. Hmm.. but no Swarovski crystals tt she mentions. Do different planes sell different items??
I got bored with sleeping, so i decide to play with the KrissWorld. Well.. i was looking at person sitting across me. I saw he had a control panel. I wonder where's mine. When i spot it, i was figuring how to take it out! Not wanting to look "sua gu" i decide to look thru the instructions. hmmm.. no instructions on how to take it out!! ARGH!!! After some trying, i finally got it out. For those who know, SHUT UP! its my 1st time! FOr those who dunno.. plz take longer than me to take it out. =) So many movies, so little time. I will definitely take SQ if i am gonna travel to a far destination.
Abt 1/2 hr into the flight, the food came in. But nopes, its not for us.. there were special orders like vegetarians and long bread (overheard). I wondered where's mine. There was no trolleys and my stomach was growling!! For a mooment, i tot there's no meal indented. I was watching helplessly as the stewardess gave other passengers their meals.
Finally, after an hr into the flight, i saw my meal. "Lor Mai Kai" or Pan cake. The stewardess will ask foreighers, "glutinous rice". I had the pancake. Excellent. Really fresh. GA has the worst breakfast. Its ALWAYS the same, with no choice. Omellete and ham. I love the dessert. Its the water chestnut dessert with corn. Yummy!!
Meanwhile, i was adding songs to my playlist. Wide selections. But i only had like 10 min to enjoy b4 the plane starts its descent...

A GIRL with a BIG voice

2005-11-29T00:24:00.000+08:00

Wee... this girl rocks!!! Reminds me of my hall mate, Piggy, who sings extremely well.
A powerful voice tt brought the whole place to life with her "I was afraid, I was petrified ..."
YES!! I WILL SURVIVE!!! SHE ROCKS BIG TIME!!! Her powerful voice and stage performance just blew us away!! The crowd calling for an encore after her performance. =)

The pub is called Beer garden further down Narathiwat Rd, just crossing Rama IV junction. Went down with my hall room-mate's gf, working here in BKK for a whixcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcxcle. Met up in Suan Lum 1st for a BIG dinner b4 joining the "Auntie Gang" for a little drinks at the pub. Not tt they drank beer , but they were there from 7pm to 12am, with like a 90+ SGD bill. Amazing.. they sat so long. The band tt was playing, had really good looking singers (well.. no lack of chio entertainers in thailand) then they invited people to come up and sing. Yah lah.. they are their friends, else how will they know how well they sing.
First there was this ang-mo tt sang "Black Magic" well.. there was a gen gap. The aunties knew all the songs, while me and my friend were getting a little bored and restless.
Had a beer and sat for abt 2 hrs... i dunno how they can just sit there for 5....

2 weddings and a funeral

2005-11-27T00:12:00.000+08:00

Its another colleague's wedding today Aurn. So here we go again to a town call Suthi-buri. That's where the ex prime minister was born and a tower was built as a monument for him. That's the TALLEST structure in the place. We were like 4 - 5 km away and spotted where we were suppose to head.
10 THB for entry and 40 THB to climb the tower. We din wanna climb the tower as there;s really nothing much to see. There's a mini water theme park with the slides.. abt 2 storey tall. a musical fountatin and a small house tt contain info abt the ex prime minister.

Well.. like wat i told my friend... set yourself back 10 yrs in a National Day gathering at a community centre, tt's their wedding. The event was lightening up by dancers. Well, sadly... there were some girl-boy dancing. Its okies if they are slim.. but they were plump and worst still.. they had rather colourful neon colour costumes tt were really skimpy. gosh!!!

Stay tune for the wedding photos. Not really close to him... but we just attend anyways... oh the sister looks realy chio haha..
tt's 2 weddings and a funeral i've attended so far in thai in a span of 3 mths.

Beer Festival

2005-11-26T13:14:00.000+08:00

For all beer lovers... 3 months of Boozing in Thailand!!!!
Its a season of boozing. Winter time -- from Nov to Jan.
Whatever brands you want. Asaki, Singha, Heinken... =) 3L for THB 450. Much cheaper than pubs.
Here's in front of WTC with a live band from Camaroon playing.
With some thai colleagues and his friends (who came and go), we had live 12 L of beer in all. TT's the most amt of beer i had in a single day. There was a security guard, a property agent, a HP guy (who din get any discount although the event was sponsored by Heinken and HP).
Kinda just wasting the time away... trying to chat with my limited thai and their limited english. But the language is not easy to pick up. I think any language is jsut the same.
Cheers and drink up!!!

Hong Kong Market

2005-11-24T15:27:00.000+08:00

The place call Hong Kong Market, located opposite my office.

A stall selling Phat Thai

My lunch. 菜饭

Outside the market. A stall selling Goreng Pisang.

Where i have my daily lunches. Its just like any Singapore market. Filled with people, except that since its near many office buildings, everyone is dressed in their office wear. You can find a variety of foods here, like Phat Thai, Kao Phat, Soup Noodle, vegetable rice, Jap food (not very authentic). Tasty and cheap.
There are also many small shopes selling clothes and bags. Bustling with activities. =)

National Geographic Channel

2005-11-23T00:05:00.000+08:00

9/11... a really sad day for Americans. We watch in horror as 1 tower follow by the other collasp. People lost on the streets, carrying photos of their love ones. The media played back tel conversations from people on the planes and people from the twin towers... the last phone call they will ever make, to their love ones.

As the program continues, there was this speech by Osama Bin Laden, "... stop murdering our kids and women ..."

Media, the power of media. Do we know how many people died in Afghanistan, Iraq when the Americans attacked? Innocent lives being targetted by terrorists in the case of 9/11. Inoocent lives accidentally killed by military during the 2 wars. Who justifies who can kill who? Taking lives (yes.. our 1st movie =) ) away innocently? How many were actually innocently killed by the American military?

Has the media sensationalize the whole event, making the Americans look like the victim? What abt the years of sanctions tt had kiled thousands of Iragis and Afghanistans children? The total loss in lives in 9/11 is 2983... news brought to us in an instant. Do we know wat's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan?

I'm resting here on my bed, watching the program on NGC. Wat will a program from Iraq or Afghanistan be like??

Just thankful for the peace and quiet around me...

Traffic Jam

2005-11-22T23:14:00.000+08:00

Traffic Jam at 830 am. Taken from 30th floor

Traffic eases during lunch time.

Gosh... u have never seen a traffic jam until u come to bangkok. In Singapore, there are 人龙 queuing for dunno what，in bangkok, there is 车龙. IIt takes like half hr or more to clear this stretch, so be thankful when u r trap in a traffic jam in Singapore.
This is the traffic i experience every day when i go to work. Well, good think there is the motorcycle taxis =)

Slim

2005-11-20T01:04:00.000+08:00

1st clubbing in RCA...

The place is really nice... Met up with Bee, yupz the married guy, at 7pm and took us 1 hr + to get there from Sathorn, taking the toll and exiting at Rama 9.
We parked the car on the opposite side and went into this club call Slim. There's 2 parts of it, East and West side, i rem reading b4. 1 side is playing R&B, and the other is a live band (thai music). Low sofas and candle lights on wooden tables are the deco. Went to the Live Band area (not sure if its east or west) and there was Bee's wife and her colleague at a table eating. Her colleague is rather big size, kinda standing out from the crowd of skinny thai girls that u usually see. But she's very friendly, although she dun speak much english. We chatted a while b4 Bee's other friends came, abt 7 of them. Food is pricey, with Esan (countryside) food and Fingerfood filing the menus. The popular drinks is Red Label with mixers ike soda and coke - 2L for THB 1800. Pretty cheap considering the place. There were pretty Bacardi girls going arnd, each bottle going for THB 150.
The live band really really rocks as it approaches midnite. It really got the crowd dancing, a little like an indoor concert. Mostly slow thai rock, a little like Beyond. At arnd 12, the band stops playing and begining to play thai rock... Even though i hardly understands what he's singing, but just sing along!!!
Dance till 1+ am b4 we went for supper... Remember to check out the place!!!

Independence Day

2005-11-17T22:03:00.000+08:00

My work desk in BKK

1st day alone in Thailand...
Wake up, wash up and out of the apartment at 0905 hrs. Traffic jam, so its the 20 baht motorcycle taxi again. Reached in 5min!!! =) Bought an egg mayo sandwich and went up to the 30th floor office. 1st one in office...
My 1st step to independence.. get a SIM card... for those coming to thailand, call me =) Happy Line from DTAC... it costs THB299 with 50 bucks of value... not alot, i finish it in 1 nite.
Lunch was at the mkt, eating with the rest of the engineers in the company.

Staying HAPPY always...

After work, i went to top up my card, then took the motor taxi to near my apartment. Walked along the street and i finally decided on the saloon tt i cut my hair
which saloon would u choose if u r along an old street in a foreign country? Some will just give up and go to a shopping centre... or 1 of those old barbers with the big seats tt can be lowered..? i chose a rather clean and new looking 1... argh... how wrong... there's only 1 person who cuts the hair.. and he's like 40+.. dunno wat armani haircut is... oh well... i made a lousy choice...

Had Phat thai for dinner.. tt's fried glass noodle.. look at photo... =)
Someone call me...

Whizzing through Bangkok Traffic

2005-11-16T17:11:00.000+08:00

Stuck in traffic jam in a bus or in a cab and you will cursing those motorcyclist who zig zags in between vehicles and get ahead of everyone.
Took a motorcycle taxi today. A normal bike with the motorcyclist ina red vest, that's how you spot a motorcycle taxi in BKK. Very cheap and fast mode of transport. U see all sorts of people taking it. I saw a mum and her kid got onto 1, school girls (yupz in skirts), working adults with their laptop bags, ang-mohs or thais alike... Kinda dangerous though coz usuauly rhey dun provide a helmet. Even if they do... i wun put it on!!! Imagine who was the previous person using it. Anyways its just a piece of metal head gear, not those high tech F1 bike type of helmets with visor or watz...
Usually we take the Maple House Tuk Tuk to work, but gary and me waited for abt 10min, still no sight of it. We pretty much guessed tt it was stuck in a jam. So we decided to take the motorcycle taxi. ANd we were right, along the way there, we saw the Tuk Tuk, still stuck in along Narathiwat road... BYEBYE...

Road Side Makaning

2005-11-16T01:21:00.000+08:00

Recalling last nite... went to makan near Phrom Phong BTS. Ate at this roadside stall just in front of a 7-11. Yes, RIGHT beside the road, with motor bikes, cars, buses alike whizzing past us. A bus stopped beside us and i looked at the passenger onboard... wonder wat they are thinking when they see me and gary eating our Kai Phat Kao (Fried Rice with Chicken). cheap cheap... 25 baht per plate.
Not my 1st time eating along the road.. 1st time we ate was on my way to a funeral. yupz. been to a funeral and a wedding liaoz... the 1st time me, gary and nuan chan ate at this toadside seafood. We had Som Thum (local salad), which i cannot really take as the small chilli padis are really killers... they just burn my tongue!! a fish, some chicken and pepsi... < SGD 20.. hee Good think i din have a stomachache for both sessions =)

After our dinner, we went to this pub for a drink and played pool. I seriously SUCK at it.. anyways luckily there's ESPN on the tv, with the Shanghai Open being telecast... i din know now Masters Cup also include China...
Here's a poster i saw in the toilet... hee

Tying the Knot in Thailand - Not mE!

2005-11-13T00:50:00.000+08:00

A

This is my 2nd biz trip up to thailand, bangkok. Today is my thai colleague's, Mr B's, wedding.
The roadtrip to attend his wedding started at 11am, with 4 other colleagues driving up to the outskirt of Bangkok, some 150km away. Gosh... cannot recall the name of the town, i was bz looking arnd and sleeping at the same time throughtout the journey.

A Catholic wedding... i wonder just how different are weddings from country to country. Religiously, its the same ceremony, the wedding ceremony taking place in a little Catholic church in their town. The pastor giving the couple his blessings, some hymns in Thai and ending with the couple walking down the isle with friends and relatives along it, throwing flower petals on them. After which it ended with a photo taking session and wat some single girls are waiting for... the throwing of the bouquet. wonder where did tt custom came arnd.. I wonder where's the Mini or Beetle where there will be a trail of cans behind is... i rem watching it in some movie and advertisement tt as the couple got married.. they will drive away in one of the cars with the back saying... "Just Married"
The wedding dinner is a little more interesting, resembling scenes or 7th month celebration in Singapore, with the communittee of residents gathering at the community centre eating dinner and enjoying the loud singing from the brightly dressed singers.

Marriange... this is the 3rd wedding i attend this year, 1st being my good friend from hostel, Ruth, with Vincent. And my old neighbour's son wedding. When's the age of marriage? How is my wedding ceremony gonna be like? where is it gonna be? I've no answers to these questions yet... but something tt i just wanna look arnd and explore... as in look arnd the world n see wheres the best place i want it to be held... a special ceremony for 2 person... Be it at Shangri La, beside the backdrop of the setting sun or in a quiet church outside town... it just had to be a special place for 2 person to remember for the rest of their lives....

How much ss your relationship worth?

2005-11-07T23:13:00.000+08:00

When i mean how much, i literally meant in terms of monetary value!

After work today, met up with hooey for dinner and on our way home, we had a very interesting conversation...
It started with the topic of how this engineer maanaged to accumlate a fortune of SGD 100,000 in a matter of 5 yrs of working. Well, not exactly a miracle to some bankers or investors, but to people like me and hooey who had just started working, we were wondering howmuch we can actually earn and spend and save.
Here comes, though hooey is rather low maintenance (LM311), expenses shldn't really be that high. But just how low is not high? So i took out my calculator and started to do some sums...
So i started to recall the times when i bought her something or spent money on her Luckily, hooey wasn't offended, and she was actually quite amuse with it. Sorry.. i wun wanna say how miserly or how extravagant i am.. haha... just between the 2 of us... but well.. it's abt a K or 2 since we went out...
Well, we aren't really concern abt how much we spent on each other, it was one of those fun activity tt we did on a train... from town to kovan, and ruffy had to rustle back from kovan back to clementi... =)

Commissioning Day

2005-11-03T02:18:00.000+08:00

Hooey's NEW Nokia 3230

Ruffy's NEW Samsung D500

Haha.. Both ruffy and hooey comissioned their new HPs on the same day.

Bandung - Not the drink

2005-10-28T14:07:00.000+08:00

Okies... my previous post wasn't saved in time. DAMN. Really frustrating... here i am happily typing away, lost in my tots and just wanna quickly blog everything, the next time i know, I am logged out and wat i had typed in the past 30 min was gone!!!

-------------------------saving---------------------------------------------------

Here's a trip up to Bandung. Its the 3rd largest city after Jakarta, with a population of about 3 million, located abt 2 hrs drive away (taking the toll and assuming no traffic jam... else it will take really really really long...)

A friend recommended a few places to chill ...

1. At Dagu Area,
a. Sierra
b. The Valley
c. The View
d. starting with the letter M... cannot rem the name

2. At Daun Area
a. Kampung Daun
b. The Peak.

Well, Bandung is a mountainous area, so these exotic eating places are right on top of hills. Excellent scenery of the town, plus the wonderful cooling weather of Bandung, its really worth the 20min drive up these hills.

Here's some photo of Kampung Daun:

A little getaway hut...

The night before, we were at Sierra. The night scenery + the cool weather of Bandung, made the 20min drive up the mountain worthwhile. The food isn't the most spectacular, people usually go up to have a drink and chill and at the same time enjoy the view of the little kampung lights beneath us.

At the meal, there were 4 Indonesians and I'm the only Singaporean. Of the 2 Indo, there are 2 Bandungnese and 2 Jakartians (wonder if tt's how u call them, anyways we did have a short debate on how to call them but there was no conclusion, so i shall just call them Bandungnese and Jakartians, sounded ike Martians .. haha!!) and we were just enjoying our meal. Somehow, someone mention a joke abt how small singapore us, and there is no need for National Service (NS), afterall a single bomb wil just destroy the whole country.

Gosh.. wat naive view!!! As a Singapore, a patriot, an ambassador when I'm out of my beloved island country, I HAD TO DEFEND SINGAPORE!!! It was a little interesting debate, sometimes mentioning abt how patriotic and heroic Indonesians were during WWII, and how she had decline after tt. How Suharto era was actually a much stable era, to a joke tt if all the Chinese in China were to spit on Singapore, we will be flooded... No discussion of politics, sheez..i dun wanna end up in jail. Anyways, it ended with a little National Education tt i learnt durning reservist. How Singapore defences had shifted from the doctrine of being a "poccupine" (colaterral damage) to being a "dolphin" (deterrence and diplomacy, making friends with all our neighbours).
Better think twice before attacking Singapore... haha... =)

It was an enjoyable nite at Bandung, never knew such nice places exists. =)

ME!

2005-10-26T14:05:00.001+08:00

Here’s my 1^st entry. A photo of myself eating in Thailand. Yummy!!

Rustling around ...

便宜货...

Europe 2007

迎新年，贺新年‘07

亚洲 - 欧洲 之游

2007!!!

Changi Airport

Palmy - "kwaam jep bpuat" from Beautiful

RaNdOM totS aNd SiGHts

Betting on the Future

HCM Day 1

Are We Alone?

Loi Khrathong

COUP...

Songs...

Everybody's Changing

hmm... i shall brush my teeth 3 times everyday!

A Sea of Yellow

A typical Average Singaporean

A phone call...

Bkk by Bus

Movies directed by Steven Spielberg

Siem Raep

Identity

婷。。。 走了，

X Men Craze

Exploring Chao Phraya

Thanks!!

Happy Birthday!!!

Sounds in your dreams

Ups and Downs in Bkk

Ordinary Saturday Morning

Cabbies

Endorphine - Nam dtem kaew

Indonesia...truely Asia...

Chiang Mai - Songkran Day 3

Bugs and Bees

Chiang Mai - Songkran Day 2

Chiang Mai - Songkran Day 1

Job

Its Going to be a Beautiful day...

Happy Meal

The last days together.....

ThAnks T

Butterfly

day 3

Oh Oh.. Silom is in trouble

Tips to Longer Life from NGC

He-She or She-He

Good or Evil??

Day 2 in Samui

Train Services in Bkk

Bkk day 1

Bangkok Rock Fest 2006!!!

My new toy

Koh Chang

MOS - SG

Wat is on your desktop?

A Healtgy Meal?

Chatuchak

Zheng He

Apartment or Home?

Siam Paragon

Kriss Lost

A GIRL with a BIG voice

2 weddings and a funeral

Beer Festival

Hong Kong Market

National Geographic Channel

Traffic Jam

Slim

Independence Day

Whizzing through Bangkok Traffic

Road Side Makaning

Tying the Knot in Thailand - Not mE!

How much ss your relationship worth?

Commissioning Day

Bandung - Not the drink

ME!

亚洲 - 欧洲之游

婷。。。走了，